


The Paradox of Time - A Fairy Tail Fanfic

by iEliteRoyale



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, BAMF Natsu Dragneel, F/M, Fear the Great Salamander, Fluff and Angst, Happy needs a hug, He Gets Stronger and Less Dense, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Lucy Wants to Help, Nah he's still a softie, Natsu Needs a Hug, Natsu joins a Dark Guild, Original Character(s), Poor Lucy, Time Travel Fix-It, Wendy gets dragged into this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iEliteRoyale/pseuds/iEliteRoyale
Summary: "Lucy suddenly spoke, her voice heavy in desperation. “Yes! You do know us! I’m Lucy, and this is Erza! Do you remember!?!”Natsu, taken aback by this girl’s abruptness, pulled down his scarf from his face and settled into a smirk. “Oh yeah, I do remember.” He turned to Erza, absorbing her features. “You’re the infamous Titania, the queen of the fairies,” he then turned to Lucy, gesturing to her keys. “And you must be that blonde celestial wizard.” Instantly, Natsu’s smile curled malevolently, his eyes dilating. “You’re both from Fairytail, if I’m not mistaken.”It was as if all the oxygen in the atmosphere disappeared at that moment. Lucy stood there, the dawn of realization finally kicking in. Why hasn’t she accepted this before? This wasn't Natsu. Not the Natsu she knew."Or:Natsu and the gang took a time-traveling mission to the past, but one small change leads to series of effects in their future. Now, Fairytail will have to suffer the consequences of their actions.Well, it's not only them who will have to suffer, but the whole kingdom of Fiore as well.
Relationships: Gray Fullbuster & Erza Scarlet, Laxus Dreyar/Mirajane Strauss, Lucy Heartfilia & Wendy Marvell, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia, Natsu Dragneel/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This story will be revolving around time-traveling, and because this topic can become so complex, I tried to interpret it in my own way in order for it to fit my storyline. If there are any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comment section, and I'll be sure to explain it to you the best that I can.

"'Go back in time? Stop thieves from robbing a family?' I'm not buying any of this." Gray scoffed, reading the paper he held in his hands. The paper Lucy grabbed from the mission board requested strong mages to help return a family's fortune.

The celestial mage took back the paper from his hands and read over it. "I don't know, I just thought it was pretty interesting. Time-traveling to the past? That sounds cool! And look," Lucy pointed to the award. "We get 120,000 jewels for completing the mission!"

Gray raised an eyebrow at Lucy. "Sure, the price is good, but don't you know what could happen if we change the past? That could mess up how our life is now! Don't you remember the last time we time-traveled?"

Lucy thought back into her memories, recollecting the time when she accidentally opened a book that sent them all back in time. That was when Natsu gave his younger self the scar on his neck, and it is the reason why he has that same scar today. If we never went back in time that day, would Natsu ever have that scar in the first place? Lucy shivered, easily creeped out by how trippy time-traveling could be.

She giggled, pushing the complexity of time traveling to the back of her head. "I guess your right, Gray. We don't know what could happen if we go back in time!"

Erza and Natsu came from the bar, eager to see which requests the two mages were looking for them all to do. They noticed the paper Lucy held in her hands and decided to ask about it.

"Hey Lucy! Did you find a mission?" Natsu asked, intrigued about their job request.

"Not yet, we're still looking," Lucy replied, pinning the time-traveling paper back onto the mission board.

Erza leaned over to get a good look at the flyer Lucy placed back. In dark bold words, it read:

**HELP NEEDED. Dark guild thieves stole my family's fortune on July 7, x777. Go back in time to return our fortune, and you will be awarded 120,000 Jewels!**

The Scarlet mage read this out loud, clearly interested in the mission's request. "This sounds like a great mission, and it also pays high. Why did you put it back?" She asked.

"Gray thinks that we shouldn't mess with time." Lucy responded, already searching for another request.

Natsu was frozen. Did he hear that right? Natsu snatched the paper from Erza and read it again, noticing the date 'July 7, x777' imprinted onto the paper.

Gray looked back at Natsu, shocked by his sudden actions. "Woah, flamebrain, What's up with you?"

Natsu, still looking down at the paper, slowly responded to Gray. "We have to do this mission. I have to go back to this date."

Lucy's eyes softened as she looked at Natsu. She forgot that was the date when Igneel disappeared. She couldn't have imagined how it must have felt to Natsu after seeing his father be mercilessly killed by Acnologia. After years of searching, the truth was that Igneel was with him the whole time, and after they finally got to meet again, Igneel died in the hands of another dragon. She knew that this pulled a heavy toll onto Natsu, but he nonetheless continued to smile and stay strong for his family. She had no idea how much pain Natsu must have been going through internally as he mourned the loss of his father.

Lucy softly spoke. "Oh yeah. July 7, x777 was the day that Igneel disappeared."

Natsu looked up at Lucy. "I was looking for Igneel since the day he left. If only I could tell my younger self where he really was, then maybe I would've lived more peacefully, knowing that Igneel was always with me." He gently curled the corner of the paper as he shifted his gaze back onto the date. This pained Lucy, she wanted to reach out to him and hug him, tell him everything was going to be okay, but Erza spoke instead.

"It's official, then. We will go on this mission!"

Gray widened his eyes as he looked at Natsu. "Natsu, I understand where you're coming from, but I don't think it's a good idea to tell your past self that. Do you know how that could change the present?"

Natsu narrowed his eyes at Gray. "Yes, I do. It will stop me from trying to look for Igneel!"

"But that might not be the only thing that could change!" Gray responded.

Lucy stepped in. "Natsu, I know you went through a lot of pain because you didn't know where Igneel was, but maybe Gray is right. Telling your past self where he is could change how things are right now."

"Fine, I won't talk to my past self. But can we at least do the mission?" Natsu asked, exchanging a pleading look with everyone.

"Of course! Everyone, we are leaving in an hour." Erza confirmed, leaving the group to get ready.

Gray knew not to mess with Erza when she comes up with a decision. But still, he couldn't understand how nonchalant everyone could be about the topic going back in time. He shook his head. _Maybe I'm just overreacting. I mean, just stopping some thieves shouldn't affect anything, right?_

* * *

The destination was only 40 minutes away, so everyone decided to walk (besides happy, who flew), for Natsu's sake. The team traveled down one of the many trails that were intertwined within the forest, walking towards the outskirts of Magnolia. It was a rather peaceful journey, with the comfort of close friends chatting with each other under the breeze of a Saturday morning. When they approached their destination, they found a small, simple farmhouse with a ranch in the backyard. Children were playing in the garden while an old woman sat on a rocking chair on the porch. Erza was first to confront the woman, looking around as she absorbed her surroundings. "My name is Erza Scarlet, and my team and I come from Fairy Tail. We are here to help you with the mission that you requested." The elderly gave a sincere smile as a way to welcome her guests. "Ah, I'm so glad Fairy Tail accepted our request." She stood up and gestured for them to enter the house. "Please, get comfortable. You will find my husband in the living room. I'll make some tea for you all."

Erza returned a warm smile. "We are all thankful for your hospitality."

The team walked into the small house. An open space was in the center, with two couches facing each other with a coffee table in the center. An old man was seated on one of the couches, eager to see his guests. "Do sit down! I want to thank you all for helping us retrieve our fortune back. My name is Louis Blackwood, and as you must have read, the Dark Sparrows had sent thieves to rob my family from our riches 14 years ago, which had left us with absolutely nothing. We used to live in a beautiful mansion, where my children were able to live carefree lives. I worked my whole life to achieve prosperity, just so my future generations wouldn't have to worry a thing about labor or suffering. It wasn't until that fateful night, when those thieves stole everything from me. After that, we had nothing left. After they sucked dry our mansion from all of its precious fortunes, they blew it up, leaving nothing but rubble behind." Louis sighed, shaking his head. "I am just glad that my family was able to escape in time, so none of us got hurt. We were lucky that a kind farmer took us in, and that is why my family is living on this ranch. But my children nonetheless have to work every day out on the fields, something I vowed to myself that I would never let happen. Please, I don't want to sound selfish, but I need you all to go back in time so I could have my riches again. So I could provide for my family. We will pay you back as soon as we get the money back."

Louis left everyone speechless. They did not imagine the backstory to this request to be so despairing. Lucy outstretched her hands to hold the man's in hers. "I understand exactly how it feels to have your fortune taken away from you. My father was a wealthy man himself, but that all changed after he lost his business. Don't worry, we'll make sure you get every jewel back!" Lucy held a look of determination in her eyes, her chocolate brown eyes burning a desire of spirit and courage. Natsu always was fond of her passion, and it inspired him when he sees her like this. Natsu jumped up, pumping his fist into the air. "We'll get your money back! I'm all fired up now!" Happy repeated Natsu's movements, punching his paw upwards. "Aye, sir!"

Louis chuckled, then picked up a book that was on the coffee table. "Alright!" This book had a four cloverleaf on the cover, with the words Memory Days: Volume II imprinted on it.

Erza leaned forward, recognizing the cover on the book. "Memory days..." she read, "wasn't that the book that sent us to the past last time?"

Gray looked at the cover as well, noticing how it did resemble the one they found in the library that took them back in time. "You're right! But the one we used wasn't volume II... Is that the book that's going to let us time travel?

The old man nodded, running his fingers along the edge of the book. "Yes, there are only a few in the world, and this one seemed to be one of the only books that survived the explosions. I believe this book might be a newer model than what you've seen before. You see, every page is a different day in history, and each page has two columns of hours written on them; one column for the morning hours and one column for the afternoon hours. So, instead of you simply thinking of the memory, this book was made to read the exact date and time from its pages, and then it will lead you there."

"Sir, since you have the opportunity to go back in time, then why did you wait until now to go save your fortune?" Lucy asked, analyzing the book from where she sat.

"Well, yes, I have thought about countless ways of returning my fortune, but it wasn't until recently when I found this book lying in the rubble of my burnt mansion. That reignited my hope, and that was when I decided to call for strong mages to help go back in time for me to stop those robbers." Louis responded, exchanging a look at each of his heroes with big, warm brown eyes.

His wife scurried into the room holding a tray with teacups and a teapot. She passed a cup to everyone and filled their cups with tea. "Now, now, Louis. You mustn't bore these kids with all of your rambling."

Erza waved a hand to dismiss the lady's concern. "No worries, Mrs. Blackwood. He is simply telling us all the information we need to know about this mission." She sipped a cup of her tea. "Now, Mr. Blackwood, are you ready to send us back in time?"

Louis flipped to the correct page, the date July 7, x777 printed in bold in the top center. He ran his finger through the afternoon column until he reached 7 o'clock pm. "Of course! The bombs were set off at a quarter to eight, so I'll get you there around 7. Oh, and since I will be reading this spell out loud, I will go with you all to the past as well. This is so once we return, I will still have a memory of this request I gave you, and so you will all be awarded."

"Alright dear, I will step out of the room; I don't want to time travel as well! Oh! The predicament that would be!" She chuckled, before scurrying out of the room. "And good look to you all, Fairy Tail!"

Louis chuckled at his wife's joke before saying, "Don't worry, Ida, we will be going to the mansion to do this.

"We are going to the mansion?" Lucy questioned.

"Yes, it is not too far from here. It will make things easier once we travel back in time. Now, if you follow me." Louis closed the book, stood up, and waddled to the door. He was a slender short man with gray hair and brown eyes. He could fit the description of an average grandfather who goes fishing with his grandchildren. The team quickly stood up, following in pursuit as he led the way.

Louis walked into the forest, following a dirt path that ran along the outskirts of Magnolia. Trailing not too far from him, Gray put his hand on his chin, contemplating on dark guild's name. "Mr. Blackwood, you said these dark mages were from Dark Sparrow, correct?"

Louis nodded, eager to hear that Gray was aware of this guild. "Yes, do you happen to know them?"

"Yeah, I remember going on a mission that related to them stealing stuff. They're a pretty weak guild, so I'm sure we will defeat them without a problem."

Louis embraced a sweet smile. "Thanks for reassuring me, young one, you and your teammates are very kind."

About 15 minutes later, they reached the end of the forest. What used to look like a garden was now patches of soil covered in soot and ash. It stretched for half an acre, reaching the wooden frame of a mansion, it's broken beams charred into black weakened structures. The windows were shattered and the building itself looked like it would crumble at any moment, making it seem as if the wind was strong enough, it would carry the fragile mansion away.

The team looked at the abandoned mansion in awe, taking in the rough features it has been through.

Lucy covered her mouth, gaping at the atrocity before her. "This... looks horrible!

Natsu clenched his fists and lit one on fire. "Whoever did this, I will burn them to ashes!"

Gray shot an angered glare towards Natsu. "You better not burn down the mansion before we have a chance to save it, you dimwit!"

Erza grabbed both of their heads and collided them together, causing groans from both of the mages and bumps to form. "We're ready." She said, looking at Louis while the boys rubbed their heads, sliding insults to each other.

Louis pulled out the book again and flipped to the right page. He put on his reading glasses and cleared his throat. "Alright now, everyone hold hands. We'll need to be connected with each other if we all want to travel together." After everyone interlocked arms, he proceeded, reading the date and time off the book. "July 7, x777, 7:00pm. Did I say that right?"

A warm glow grew from the book, intensifying as it became brighter and bigger. Lucy shielded her eyes while Erza diligently waited. Natsu, Happy, and Gray watched in awe, admiring the light that danced across the air and around their bodies. Slowly, the light completely consumed their vision, and all they could see was a blanket of white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please leave a comment!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is up! There will be a lot of character developments going on in this story, and as well as some future pairings... Enjoy!

The blinding light softened, and everyone squinted their eyes as an attempt to clear their vision. Birds were chirping, the sound of gentle breezes rattled tree branches against each other. An orange sunset painted the sky, blending its colors with pastel pink and yellow. The smell of sweet flowers filled the air, and the team could see countless amounts of vibrant flowers decorating the garden in front of them. Standing tall, the majestical mansion loomed over the forest clearing, it's striking appearance made known to all who laid eyes on it. The team could not believe their eyes; astonished of the transformation the mansion went through.

"Woah! This place is nearly as big as my mansion!" Lucy exclaimed, causing Gray and Natsu to drop their jaws. _Nearly?! Then just how big IS her house?!_ They mulled. Erza turned to Louis, clearly amazed by his place. "Your home looks astonishing! You will have it back in no time." She assured.

Louis gave a sincere smile. "I... never thought that I would see this place again. Thank you Fairy Tail. I knew I could trust you all to help me with this mission." He looked at his watch. "Alright! The thieves should be around the house at this time, so I'll stay here until you all complete the mission! Once you're ready, I'll send us back to the present." The team nodded, showing that they understood the plan.

Gray spotted a small gazebo that was in the garden. "Mr. Blackwood, I recommend that you hide while we handle these robbers, and also so you won't make contact with your past self. We'll meet you there once we're done."

"Good idea." The man said, already waddling to the seated pavilion. Natsu nudged Happy and nodded to Louis. "Happy, mind watching over grandpa while we're gone? It'll be quick." Happy saluted before dashing off to Louis. "Aye, sir!"

"Be safe, young mages!" Louis shouted, wishing them luck.

"Don't worry, old man! We'll be back in no time!" Natsu waved him goodbye before taking off to catch up with the rest of his running team.

The mages bursted through the front doors, jumping into their prepared fighting positions. The open hallway was empty, with the tall glass windows broken and expensive vases shattered across the floor. Tables that lined the walls had their drawers pulled out, and all of its belongings seemed to be scavenged around.

Natsu sniffed the air as he looked around. "It smells like they were here just a few minutes ago..."

Suddenly, an ear-piercing screech was heard, coming from the second floor.

"Let's go!" Gray shouted, already running up the stairs.

The team followed in pursuit, chasing down the distressed scream they heard moments ago.

They barged into the room, finding it to be a massive bedroom with a king-sized bed in the center. A vanity on one side of the wall had a cracked mirror. A brunette woman in a short, navy dress was digging into its drawers, it's jewelry and accessories scraped clean from its precious materials. In the center of the room, an older woman, who seemed to be in her early 50's, was helplessly trying to escape the grasp of a hand clasping her hair, holding her hostage. She let out muffled whimpers as tears escaped her eyes. A man with short, black hair and piercing blue eyes were towering over her. The intruders wrecked the room, especially the woman, who was ravaging the place from its materialistic commodities.

"Look, you're gonna tell us where you keep all you're little cash, if you don't want your family to get hurt..." The man taunted, pulling back her hair so his eyes could meet hers.

"Wait, I recognize that woman... That's Louis Blackwood's wife, Ida!" Lucy blurted, averting her teammates' attention to the woman in distress.

The thieves looked up, now just noticing the newcomers who entered the room.

The brunette woman who was scavenging the vanity had shiny new accessories on; a pearl necklace with diamond earrings and a fancy hair clip. She drew closer, sizing up their new opponents as if they were outfits in a clothing department store. The man in the center released his hold of Ida, receiving a yelp from her as she fell onto the floor. His eyes gazed upon the Fairytail members, seemingly interested of their arrival.

"Oh? And who might you all be?" The man asked, his nonchalant voice could fool anyone to thinking that he was a perfectly sane guy if it wasn't for the act they witnessed a moment earlier.

Natsu ignited his flames, shooting death stares at the dark mages. "You better lay off that innocent act if you don't want to be burned to a crisp!" The man rose an eyebrow towards Natsu.

"Hmm, being cocky, aren't we?" He asked, the disgust suddenly laced within his voice.

Erza stepped forward, withdrawing her sword to hold it out in front of her. "Give up now, thieves, or you will face the wrath of— us mages." She knew not to give any insight of their guild, just for the sake of keeping Fairy Tail safe in the future. Who knows, saying the name of their guild could make the thieves hold a grudge against them in the future, and Fairy Tail already has enough dark guilds to deal with.

The black-haired man stepped forward. "Very well, then. I guess we will have to end this quickly, given that we have a timed schedule. Ruby, dear, how much time do we have left?"

The woman approached behind him, checking her golden rimmed watched laced with crystal rhinestones. "I'll say approximately 48 minutes before my explosives are set off. Maxim and Seph are still searching, but they said that they'll come when they're ready.

Maxim and Seph... So their's four dark mages in total? Gray reckoned, preparing into a combat stance.

Ruby turned her head to Gray, her looks softening into a smile. "Aren't you all just adorable?" She laughed. "Sorry, for the trouble! You know how it is; us mages just wanted to have a little fun. These rich spoiled brats shouldn't hoard it all to themselves, don't you agree?" Her foot hit the side of Ida when she said this, causing her to curl up in pain. Erza lunged forward, her hands wrapped around the handle of her sword as she leaped towards Ruby. Not a second later, the man outstretched his arm, a magic circle forming around it.

 **"Metal Manipulation: Folding Iron!"** Like the commands he spoke, the sword Ezra held bent, like an accordion, into a flat stub of metal. She stopped her movements, shocked at the counter-attack that rendered her weapon useless. _What type of magic is this? He can wield metal?_

"You're swords are futile against my power. I can change the shape of any type of metal, and use it to my own liking."

Erza knew that she was at a disadvantage point, due to the fact that swordsmanship was her expertise. _But that wasn't going to stop her from kicking their butts._ "Then try this!" She materializes a long staff, with a metal spear a the top of it. She lunges towards Ruby again, with the man shaking his head disapprovingly of it.

"When will you learn that your attacks are pointless?" He lifted up his arm to use his powers, shriveling up the blade of the spear, but Erza didn't stop this time. She whipped around in the air right before approaching Ruby, the end of the long spear coming around and whacking her side with full force, flinging her to the window.

"Ruby, dear!" The man yelped, watching in fear as her head hit the wall, knocking her unconscious.

Lucy gulped, noticing the atmosphere thin around them. The man slowly turned his head towards the Fairy Tail mages, his cold stare bearing into their souls. "You'll pay for that..." He said through gritted teeth. The man held out both hands, and yelled, **"Metal Manipulation: FULL CONTROL!"** The floor began to shake beneath them, and metal beams began to uproot themselves from the wooden floor, like a tectonic disturbance causing earthquakes to occur. Natsu held his stomach, forcing his insides to stay _inside_ his body. Everyone else held their grounds, dodging the large metals that erupted at random locations.

Lucy lunged forward, grabbing Ida who was fearfully trembling with the floor beneath her. Just when she moved her, a sharp metal bean jutted out from the floor. "Are you alright?" She asked the woman, who nervously nodded her head in response.

Gray stabilized himself and outstretched his arms in front of him. **"Ice-Make: Battle hammer!"** He shouted, forming a large weapon out of ice, plummeting it onto the man. This attack made him lose focus, causing the moving metal to stop so he could dodge the hammer instead.

With his upset stomach settling, Natsu jumped forward, taking the distracted man as an advantage. "Hey, Metal-head #2! Get some of this!" Natsu swung out his leg, kicking the man just as he crosses his arms in front of his face in defense. **"Fire Dragon's Claw!"** The man skidded back, burnt marks on his arms as a smirk escapes his face. "I don't know who you all are, but you all seem very powerful. How did you find out about our plans?"

The doors burst open, with two mages running in. One had shorts and a hoodie on, with shoulder-length blonde hair, and next to him stood a taller and more muscular man with an ax strapped to his back.

"What's going on over here, Diesel? We didn't expect any visitors." The blonde questioned, looking at Natsu and his teammates with surprise.

Diesel straightened himself, looking from his teammates to the Fairy Tail mages. "It seems to me that these nuisances have become a problem to our plans." He turned his head to glance at Ruby, his eyes hardening with anger. "And now that Ruby dear is out, then that means the magic explosion encirclements will no longer work." He looks at Seph with expectancy. "The riches?"

Seph nodded, answering his question. "Yes. We've already teleported them out."

Erza pointed her jagged spear towards Diesel, her intent eyes staring him down. To those who doubt the amount of damage she could do with that broken stick, they would be greatly mistaken. "Tell me, Diesel. This _Ruby_ you speak of, is capable of creating explosives and setting times for them to blow up? So she rigged this place up with bombs for you to destroy this place once you rob it clean?" She questioned, although it sounded more like a statement.

"Such a _sharp_ girl!" He snapped, whipping his head towards Ezra. "And now that you knocked her unconscious, our plan has come to a halt! This filthy rich place won't get to be blown up!"

Diesel was exaggerated on his arm movements, flailing them around as his anger spiked. He turned towards his two standing teammates. "Seph, get Ruby out of here. And Maxim, show these fools what they deserve for interfering with us."

Maxim growled, pulling out his ax as he stepped towards his opponents. He seemed like the hound of the group; his jutted-out bottom jaw with sharp, pointy teeth, and his tendency to only listen to commands and to communicate with grunts. Seph teleported in front of Ruby, carefully scooping her up within his arms. He and Diesel exchanged a nod before disappearing out of plain sight, teleporting into another location.

"Shoot. We have to hurry up, they're escaping." Erza scolded.

Lucy, who was previously holding Ida safely in her arms, guided her to the closet and hid her there. "Stay here until this is all over, 'kay?"

The older lady choked out sobs of gratitude as she shrunk into the safety of her closet. "Thank you... T-th-thank you..."

Assured that she was safe, Lucy joined the battle of the mages, Maxim swinging his ax at Gray while Erza and Natsu tackled Diesel. **"Gate of the Golden Bull, I open Thee, Taurus!"** The muscular bull appears, and Lucy can't help but notice how similar the two opponents looked. _Except for their personalities, of course._

"Heyyyyyyya, Looocy! It's nice to see your bodddd again!"

"Taurus!" She shouts, pointing towards Maxim. "Fight now, talk later!"

"Riiiight on!" He sings, clashing his ax against the latter.

"Thanks for pitching in," Gray breathes, relieved for the break from Maxim's overwhelming (and relentless) strength.

Diesel molds the metal sticking out of the floor into weapons, hurling them towards Natsu and Erza as they swiftly dodged them and took turns attacking. Gray had made an ice sword for Erza, giving her access to her swordsmanship towards Diesel.

Flames licked Natsu's fists as he threw punches on Diesel, as he returned powered punches back, metal molded onto his own fists.

"You're going down, Weasel! You and all you're friends!" Natsu bawled, blocking all of his attacks before swinging another arm.

Diesel smirked. "You're attitude must be what sparks your fire. I can see that they grow from the same flare. That is certainly interesting, although it can be annoying at times..."

"Hey! Stop analyzing me! That's creepy, man." Natsu fussed, before throwing another 'Fire Dragon Iron fist' on him.

Suddenly, Seph reappeared, getting everyone's attention.

Natsu angrily looked at Seph before stomping towards him. "Hey! You better not be a coward and run off again like that! Not when we're—"

"Sorry." He interrupted. "But we got what we came for." He walks towards Diesel and Maxim, placing a hand on them both. "So, I hope you'll all understand."

Natsu's eyes widen, and he rushes towards them. "No, wait!"

Seph grinned. "I bid you farewell." And they all disappear, leaving no trace behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, please leave a comment!


	3. Chapter 3

Gray cursed under his breath and kicked a disfigured piece of metal on the floor. "We lost them! What do we do?!"

But Erza was calm. She looked outside, as a massive hole burnt through the walls gave a refreshing morning blow of wind into the bedroom. "We search. Until wherever these thieves have gone have been found."

Gray softened at seeing Erza's relaxed, yet determined, expression, with the calming breeze passing by him. Until... he realized something about that scene seemed wrong. _We're inside._ Why did he feel a breeze?

"NATSU! YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! WHY DID YOU DESTROY THE MANSION THAT WE FOUGHT TO KEEP INTACT?!"

"WELL IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT WE FOUGHT INDOORS! YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OF OUR REWARD COULD BE TAKEN OUT OF THIS?!"

Lucy looked around, realizing how right Gray was. It wasn't only the whole back wall that was smothered from Natsu's attacks, but the whole floor was ripped up from Diesel's metal attacks. _Well, at least it was just this room..._ She thought, trying to make the situation seem better. But she couldn't help but think that she was forgetting something, or someone...

"Mrs. Blackwood!" Lucy shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. She raced towards the closet (That was thankfully still intact) and opened it, finding Ida in tears, hiding behind a fortress of clothes she made. "Mrs. Blackwood! The thieves are gone now! There is no need to cry..." The older lady wrapped her arms around Lucy, thanking her and the team over and over again. Lucy can't imagine how scared she felt, especially not knowing that they were coming to save them.

Ezra stepped forward, bowing her head. "My apologies, Mrs. Blackwood. We were not able to catch the thieves who robbed your house, and we left your bedroom in shambles. You can hit us, if you must."

The lady stopped sobbing, her dreary face turning into a soft smile. "In shambles? My whole mansion would have been _blown to pieces_ if it wasn't for you all. I-I can't thank you all enough! You saved my family! And please... do not worry, the thieves did not steal everything from me, because I didn't tell them where our real treasure is..." Ida got up from her hiding place and walked over to her bed, pulling out a small chest underneath it. She opened it, revealing a key resting on a soft cushion. "We have a vault in the basement. "That's where we keep all of our money." Ida turned back to the mages. "Please, the least we can do is give you all a reward. You came here, risking your life to save ours!"

Lucy was surprised by this. She didn't expect to get an award in the past as well. Does that mean double the money?! She leapt forward, excitedly reaching for the key, when Erza held out a hand as a kind declination. "Thank you, but we'll have to decline. We are simply doing our job; we did not expect to be paid by your family." Lucy froze in midair, her heartbeat stopping too. Did Erza seriously reject our paycheck? She was baffled, but she straightened up with a smirk. _Who am I kidding? She's right, we shouldn't be taking money from them if we are going to get it from them in the future._ But the women persisted. "Please! We are in your debt!"

The door burst open, with frantic people rushing in. A younger version of Louis was on his knees panting. He had less gray hair on his head and seemed a bit taller in height. Next to him, a young woman and a man ran in, looking like the children of Louis. A butler and two maids rushed in as well. They all froze, looking at the scene in front of them. The jutted-out floorboards, the burnt walls, the Fairy Tail mages, and Ida Blackwood holding the key to their basement vault. But Louis couldn't care less. He ran up to Ida, grasping her into his arms. She dropped the chest, dramatically enclosing her own arms around him in joviality. They wept, sinking to the ground as their children ran to them to join the cherished reunion. "Ida! You don't understand how afraid I was when the first window broke! Sandra and Preston were with me in the library, but we were fearful as to where you were! We searched everywhere, but then we ran into one of the thieves! I am so glad you are okay!" He cried, squeezing her closer into his embrace, as if he was afraid that she would disappear.

"Oh, Louis! You wouldn't believe what had happened! These mages came in and saved me, driving the thieves off our lot! The Dark Sparrows threatened that they were going to detonate the house with bombs! If it wasn't for these heroes, I don't know what would have happened!" Ida tearfully explained before grabbing her children and attacking them with kisses. Louis looked up to the mages, his eyes watering. "You don't understand how grateful we all are! Do tell us; what are your names?"

Natsu puffed his chest, prepared to pridefully introduce himself, but Gray shot a deathly glare at him. "We... are just your friendly neighbor mages, willing to help anyone who is in trouble." He said smoothly, easing their way out of the question.

Louis stood up, his hand delicately holding Ida's to help her stand as well. "Very well then... allow us to reward you with our gratitude." He said, picking up the chest that fell on the floor. He pulled out the key, and headed towards the door. "Follow me," He suggested, leaving the room with his family and staff following him. Natsu looked at Lucy with a shrug, before heading off to follow them.

As they made their way to the basement, butlers and maids were found swiftly cleaning of the house, sweeping glass shards and picking up fallen picture frames, and as well as fixing any other destruction that occurred. "Mr. Blackwood," Ezra started, staring intently at the man in front of her. "We did not catch the thieves; they had only escaped. You are not entirely safe yet because those thieves can come back again to attack."

Louis turned around, giving her a reassuring smile to her concern. "Do not worry, young mage. It was a fool of us to not have enhanced security in the first place. That is something that we will work on to prevent future break-ins." Lucy smiled when he said "future", thinking on how the Blackwood's life would be like in the present now that they stopped the thieves.

They were led to a door that opened up to a staircase leading to another floor beneath the mansion. At the bottom of the staircase, a big stainless steel vault door stood in front of them. "Thank goodness I didn't tell that metal thief where our money is stored, because he could have easily wielded the door open." Ida said, making her way down the stairs.

Louis grabbed hold of the spokes to the vault door handle and twisted it, struggling to make it budge. Gray and Natsu appeared behind him to offer help, and with ease, they twisted the vault door open. Louis's face flushed red as he rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I guess I'm not as strong as I used to be..." Lucy giggled at the sight of this.

They entered through the door and approached an old wooden door, and Louis pulled out the key to open it. He inserted the key into the hole and unlocked it, pushing the door to an open room. Loads and loads of money overflowed containers that were stacked across the walls. Gold bars were also neatly assembled into pyramids, displaying the amount of wealth they contained within them as their luminous quality sparkled in the light. Looking at the room, one could estimate that the money here was worth over 300 million jewels. The Fairly Tail mages felt their jaws hit the floor as they look at the wealth in awe. Louis walked over to a container and pulled it out, collecting 8 stacks of money from it. He then walked over to the mages, handing them 2 stacks each. "I hope this will show our gratitude." He said, in a heartwarming smile. Lucy flipped through the stack of bills, counting the amount that was given. There are over 200,000 jewels in each stack! This is definitely more than what they said on the request! Natsu, Erza, Gray, and Lucy all bowed their heads in unison. "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood! We are all very grateful!" Lucy chirped.

Ida rubbed her chin. "That's odd... I never remembered telling you all our last names..." Heat rosed into Lucy's head, but Gray stepped forward. "Who wouldn't know your last names? You are all one of the wealthiest families in Fiore!" Lucy physically slumped in relief, releasing a breath that she did not know she was holding. Erza gestured to the door. "We should be going now. Thank you once again for your kindness."

"Oh, don't thank us! This was the least we could do for your heroic acts!" Sandra responded, beaming a smile that replicated her brother's.

Natsu waved off his hand as they made their way out of the building. "Stay safe! And try not to get robbed again!" The team walked away from the mansion with the Blackwood family standing at the entrance, eagerly waving them goodbye.

The sun was touching the horizon, with the sky darkening to richer shades of pink and purple. After walking far enough from the family's sight, the Fairy Tail mages arrived at the gazebo they left the present Louis in. He was taking a nap on the hooded bench with Happy curled in a ball beside him, waking up to see his heroes arrive. "Ah! You all made it! How did it go?" He asked, sitting up to greet them. Erza smiled and nodded, causing him to glow with glee.

"The mission was a success, although the thieves escaped. There is no fear, however, because your past self promised to enhance your security systems to prevent future robberies. The most important thing is that your vault was untouched, and we knocked out the lady who was in control of the explosives, causing them to disable." She explained, satisfied to see the cheerful expression on the man's face. "Ah, that sounds splendid! And it seems that my past self has already awarded you!" He said, noticing the stacks of money they held in their hands. "Do not fear; I will still award you in the present..." His words trailed off as he looked at each one of them. "Sorry, but if I'm not mistaken, weren't there four of you?"

Lucy looked around, finding no trace of their pink-haired dragon slayer. Where's Natsu?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, but they should get longer as the story progresses. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review of what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

Gray whipped his head around, looking for his missing teammate. "Shoot! He better not have done what I think he did..." Erza shook her head, fully aware of what his disappearance meant. _He went to find his past self._ "Lucy, Gray!" She shouts, gaining their attention. "We will split up to look for him! Do not interact with anybody! And most importantly, do not let Natsu talk to his younger self!" They nodded, stuffing their payments into their pockets/bag before taking off in different directions. Erza turned to Louis with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Mr. Blackwood. This will only be momentary." She said, before sprinting off into the forest.

* * *

Natsu stared at his younger self walking aimlessly around the woods. He was perched behind a bush so he wouldn't be seen, knowing all too well how fearful this day was for him. July 7, x777. He just lost Igneel that morning, so his past self was searching for him without end. The only problem was: he didn't know where to look. He was only walking in circles, calling out for his name. "Igneel! Igneel, where are you?" His voice sounded hoarse from the relentless shouting, and he was tired from going without food the whole day. Natsu smirked after thinking about that day. Even though he lost Igneel, it was also the day he found Gramps. That was the day he joined Fairy Tail. In fact, Natsu knew that at any moment now, Gramps was going to appear from his walk to the guild, and that was going to be the first time they met. He knew that he was going to have to do this now, before he loses his chance.

Natsu stands up while his past self's back was facing him, but before taking a step forward, a tug pulled him back to the ground. "Hey! What the- Lucy? What are you doing here?" Natsu hissed, a bit flustered that she stopped him from confronting his younger self.

"Shhh!" She whispered, sneaking a peek above the bushes to check if younger Natsu heard anything. He was alert, snapping his head towards the bushes that hissed. "Igneel? Is that you?"

Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand and scurried away from the bushes before he could protest, dragging him back to the mansion. Before they could get far, Natsu halted to a stop. "Lucy, you know that I need to do this! It's either now or never!"

"No, you don't!" She snapped, her eyes were filled with tears, threatening to come out. That was when Natsu froze, automatically switching his stubborn behavior into a protective one. "Lucy, why are you crying? Was it something I said?" He asked, his face immediately softening with regret. Lucy wiped away the tears while shaking her head. "No, no. It's just... while I was searching for you, I was thinking. What if I didn't make it time? What if you told your younger self the truth about Igneel? Then I realized, if that had happened, then I would have never met you." She choked out a sob. Natsu's eyes grew big, realizing what she had just said. "Think about it; if you tell your past self where Igneel is, then you would not have had the reason to search for that fire salamander you heard about in town, and then we would have never met. We would never had all of those adventures we had together, and I would've became a mindless slave to that creep who kidnapped me on his yacht. You saved me, Natsu, and that only happened because you _didn't_ know where Igneel was." She was clinging tightly onto Natsu's scarf, her forehead resting on his chest as she bawled. Natsu was dumbstruck; unable to speak. He was in shock, staring at the blonde weeping on him, before softening into a smile. "I guess you're right," he gently spoke, "It would be selfish of me to change the future for my own benefit, right, Luce?" He delicately stroked her hair before lifting her head up to rest his forehead on hers. "Lucy, I would never want to live a life without you. You are the best thing that happened to me, well, you and Fairy Tail, of course." He chuckled, enjoying the sweet embrace of Lucy as he comforted her.

"Natsu... I wouldn't know what to do without you..." She whimpered, slowly regaining her composure.

"Lighten up, Luce! See? I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere!" Natsu gave his signature smile, his pearly white teeth and sharp canines showing, as he jammed his thumb into his chest. They meet each other's eyes, silently admiring each other's existence. Lucy blushed, averting her eyes to the ground. "We... should be heading back... now..." She insists, looking up at that starry sky. "It's getting late. We wouldn't want to keep Louis waiting." Natsu rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning pink from blushing. "Uh, yeah, you're right! I'll race ya back!" He shouted, bolting towards the mansion in the far distance. Lucy smiled; how can Natsu say so many romantic things without even knowing it? And why is he so darn cute when he blushes? She shook her head, batting away those thoughts. She felt her face heat up. Natsu was very special to her... was that why she felt this way? It wasn't until then when she realized something. She liked him— no, she loved him. She loved Natsu, so that's why she was afraid of losing him. She recomposed herself, standing up with pride. _Natsu basically said it himself, didn't he? That he loved me too? I'll tell him... I'll tell him once we get back to the guild!_ Lucy's smile stretched from ear to ear; her mind was set. She looked around, but noticed that she dozed off, giving Natsu a major head start. "Wa-wait up, Natsu! Hey! That's not fair!"

* * *

Within the forest, four dark mages were resting, looking at the starry night sky. Ruby was lying on the ground next to Diesel, his eyes protectively watching her unconscious body as he sat on a rock, his elbows resting on his knees. Maxim was sitting on a log, sharpening a stick with a pocket knife, while Seph was sitting next to him, chipping off pieces of the log with his nails to throw into the fire. They all seemed to be in there early 20's, besides Maxim, who looked older due to his size. They had set camp, patiently waiting for their teammate to gain conscious before heading for the long journey home. Seph looked at his watch and grunted. "It's 8:30. The mansion was supposed to be in pieces by now. _I'll kill those mages..._ " Diesel, not changing his gaze from Ruby, spoke. "Ruby isn't much of a fighter. Yet, ironically, she was gifted with explosive magic." He bent down to stroke her hair. "They will pay for that. For ruining our plans, for hurting Ruby..."

Maxim growled in agreement.

Ruby's eyes squinted, reaching her hand to her head. "She's awake!" Diesel yelped, earning a curious look from Seph and Maxim. Seph stood up, kicking the fire with dirt. "Well, break time's over. Let's go." Diesel carefully helped Ruby into a sitting position, his eyes laced with concern. "Take it easy, okay? How are you feeling?"

"M'kay," She responded. "My head just hurts."

Seph slung a bag of riches over his shoulder and Maxim picked up two in each hand as they began walking. "Sorry, Ruby, but we need to head out. It's best for us to head out at night."

Ruby nodded, getting onto her feet with the help of Diesel. "Let's just get out of here." She mumbled, wrapping her arm around Diesel's shoulders for support.

Diesel caught a glance of Ruby's face, scrunched up in pain. He lit up in hatred, causing the metal pocket knife strapped on Maxim's arm to shrivel. "Those mages will regret stopping us, just wait till we find them..." Ruby looked over to Diesel, an eyebrow raised. "Didn't you see their emblems?" Seph and Diesel stopped their steps, turning their heads to Ruby in surprise. "You saw their emblems?" Seph asked, a bit embarrassed that he didn't think about catching it before.

"Yeah." She said, straightening up. "And you wouldn't believe what guild they're from."

Seph did a courteous bow in a playful manner. "To whom do I owe my pleasure to?"

"Fairy Tail, the number one guild in Fiore." Ruby responded, grabbing the hem of her dress to return a respectful curtsy.

"Ah, Fairy Tail..." Diesel said, his smile stretching into a malevolent one. "They've made enemies with the wrong guild..."

They continued their journey down the woods of Magnolia, keeping an eye out for other night thieves who would want to steal their already-stolen wealth. The moonlight spilled over the forest, causing the leaves to reflect a silver tint as it and it's star companions lit up the night sky. The walk was rather silent, but it was more so as an attempt to not draw attention to themselves. It had been over 20 minutes, and by then, Ruby adapted walking on her own. She stopped, however, swinging her head around, searching her surroundings. Diesel slowed down, watching Ruby's actions. "Is there anything wrong, Ruby dear?" He asked, slowing down to a halt.

Ruby turned to Diesel and placed a finger over her mouth. "Shhh... did you hear that?"

Diesel strained to listen, and Seph soon did the same.

"Igneel! Please! Don't leave me here alone!"

Seph cocked an eyebrow. "You hear that? A damsel in distress."

Diesel was already out of sight, racing towards the noise. "A little nighttime fun wouldn't hurt anyone, now would it?"

Ruby shook her head before chasing him down with Seph and Maxim following in pursuit. "He always had a knack for mischief, doesn't he?"

"You can say that again." Seph mumbled, clearly annoyed of the distraction that caused them to get off track. "Now can we hurry? I would like to get back before morning..." His voice trailed off once he reached the scene. It wasn't a damsel in distress, it was a kid. He seemed to be lost in the middle of the forest, at night. Diesel was the first to get there, frozen as he held eye contact with him. Seph, Maxim, and Ruby all arrived a moment afterwards, replicating the same confused face that Diesel held. _This kid looked just like the pink-haired mage._

Seph's face broke into a widened, crazed smile as he stepped forward, causing the pink-haired kid to cautiously back away, fear evident in his eyes. "Ahh... no wonder you two look so much alike... You must be that mage's brother..."

"St-stay away from me!" He yelped, tripping over a twig and falling onto the ground. He used all fours to scurry backwards.

"So tell me, Diesel, if we rip this kid to shreds, wouldn't that count as revenge to those mages? Just wait till' they see him in the morning! That'll teach them to mess with us!" Seph crackled a maniac laugh, sliding out a pocket knife strapped to his leg.

Diesel turned around to meet Seph with a calm smirk. "Don't worry, Seph. Wouldn't it be a better idea to just take him in? Imagine how _that_ might spook his big brother, raising him up to be the _scariest_ dark mage in Fiore."

Ruby chirped in, her own devious smile plastered on her face. "And didn't you see the strength of his big bro? Just wait till this one grows up with strong magic of his own!"

Seph rubbed his chin, analyzing the boy. "I suppose your right... He could become a great asset to the team..."

Diesel stepped forward, crouching in front of the boy. His calming nature radiated off of him, but that wasn't enough to ease the boy's fright. "Get away from me, you freaks! Pi-pick on someone your own size!"

Diesel looked back at his crew, interest igniting his eyes. "The kid's got spunk. Just like his brother." The boy held a confused look. "You all have the wrong guy! You see-"

Seph crouched near Diesel, pointing the sharp end of the knife to the boy. "Now listen, don't back-talk the adults." He leaned in closer, getting a good look at him. "What's your name?"

"N-Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He sputtered, eyeing down the knife that was pointed towards him.

Seph retracted the weapon, resting his hand on his knee. "Cute name." He stood up, turning around. "Come with us, if you want to live, of course." Natsu gulped, thinking if disobeying would be a good idea. He looked behind the two men in front of him, finding a young woman and a muscular guy. The man seemed to tower over everyone, holding an axe that easily competed with the size of himself. The man rotated the weapon with his wrist, daring Natsu to even think about escaping.

Natsu hesitantly stood up. Diesel rubbed a hand on his head, messing it up his hair. "Good boy. I have a feeling that we'll become _great_ friends."

* * *

The woods were quiet, and Makarov was making his way home from a meeting with Porlyusica. He came across a small clearing, and stopped, noticing a snapped twig on the ground. _That's odd... I had a feeling that I was going to meet someone here..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment!


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone made it back to the gazebo, finding Louis and Happy there sleeping once again. Natsu appeared first with Lucy trailing behind him.

"Come on, Lucy! It was a race, not follow the leader." Natsu teased.

"No far!" She panted. "You're way too fast! AND you had a head start!" Lucy sat down for a break and picked up the sleeping cat, when Gray and Erza made their way back from their search. When Erza saw Natsu, she walked over to him and gave him a "hug", which was basically grabbing his head and clanging it against her chest plate with affectionate love. "Natsu! You nearly scared us! I'm glad to see you're okay."

Gray, however, was not as nearly delighted to see Natsu. He stormed over to him, uppercutting him in the gut. Natsu bent over in pain. "Gah! What was that for, Droopy Eyes?"

"You made us worry sick! You better not tell me that you talked to your younger self!" Gray was infuriated, jabbing his finger into Natsu's chest.

"What the heck, man! I didn't do anything!" Natsu barked, holding up his hands in defense. "You think I'd be that stupid?"

Lucy face-palmed herself. _Talking to your younger self was your original intention, so you basically just insulted yourself._

"Unsurprisingly, yes, I do think that."

"What did you say, Ice Princess?"

Gray was about to shoot back an insult, but Lucy held up a hand, stopping the argument from escalating into another pointless brawl. "He's right, Gray. I stopped him before he could get to his younger self. Can we go now?" She faked a yawn, hoping that would emphasize her boredom. Erza turned to Louis, nudging him to wake up. "Yes, you are right, Lucy. We should be heading back now."

Louis squinted his eyes, looking at everyone. "Back already? Alright, Let's prepare to leave." He pulled out the book and flipped back to July 20, x793, and ran his finger down the column that listed the morning hours. "What time did you all come to my house? Was it 11 am?" He earned a nod from Erza. "10:45, to be exact."

"Wonderful. Then I'll just use that time." He cleared his throat. "July 20th, x793, 11am." Warm light emitted from the book, lighting up the night sky. In a matter of seconds, the light consumed everything, transporting them 14 years into the future, which they knew as the present.

* * *

The light settled, revealing the prodigious mansion that stood before them. They were back in the present, but it was no longer a charred house in ruins- it was a lively place with gardeners and florists tending the landscape. Louis held a warm smile, his eyes glistening with tears. "I knew it! I knew I could trust in Fairy Tail to bring back my fortune!"

Lucy replicated his smile, staring at the scenery from where they stood. It looked exactly like how it did 14 years ago, except the windows were intact and the exterior itself seemed a bit renovated. "I'm so glad everything looks like it's going great! Thanks for the experience, Mr. Blackwood!" She spoke, soaking in her surroundings.

"Now, come indoors, I must award you once again for your help. Like I said, we will never be...."

Erza shook her head. "You are too kind, Mr. Blackwood, but we already got paid back in time. There is no need for the benefaction." Lucy slumped at Erza's words. _She just loves declining awards, doesn't she?_ Just like his past self, Louis persisted, pleading to Erza that it was absolutely necessary for them to be awarded with another gift.

During their small dispute, Gray turned around, searching the group. His eyes grew stone cold. _"Where's Natsu?"_

Erza paused her discussion with Louis and looked around, noticing that there were only two Fairy Tail mages around her; not three. Her face hardened as she began to search the forest. "He better not have ran off again..."

Gray grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Can that pyro ever stay put?"

 _He wouldn't have run off again... We are in the present, so it's not like he's going to look for his past self..._ Lucy thought. She looked at her arms, noticing that there was no sleeping cat resting within them. "Guys... Happy's not here either!"

Erza whipped her head towards Lucy, realizing what she had said. "That's it. Something is wrong. Happy wouldn't have left without telling us."

Gray clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "I swear, once I find Natsu, I'll kill him..."

Lucy's eyes lit up in fear. "Don't tell me... did they not time travel with us back to the present?! Do you think they're still stuck in the past?!"

Gray and Erza looked at Lucy in fear, the importance of the situation dawning on them.

Louis shook his head, rubbing his chin. "That wouldn't be the cause... I made sure that everyone was in contact with each other before we traveled. Plus, the talking cat was in your hands, so it wouldn't make sense for him not to travel as well. It could just be that there was a small defect in the book that caused them to travel to another location instead. Try checking the last place they visited before you all arrived here, they could've accidentally been teleported there instead." He flipped to the front page. "According to the warning signs, it said that small defects are likely to occur during time traveling." He looked up to the mages, his sympathetic eyes looking into each of theirs. "Don't worry, I assure you'll find him."

Lucy felt a swelling sensation in her throat, causing her to find breathing difficult. _Is this fear?_ The thought of a defect taking place in time traveling did not settle within her; especially if it caused one of her teammates to disappear. _Natsu... you better be okay..._

Erza placed a reassuring hand on Lucy's shoulder, pushing down the fearful thoughts that formed in her head. "Do not fear, Lucy. It's just as Louis had said; Natsu and Happy could've been teleported to the last place they were. Let's go and check the guild, okay?"

Lucy gave her a good-natured smile. "Yeah, you're right! They're probably just as confused as we are now!" She giggled, imagining Natsu and Happy poofing back into the guild hall, bewildering themselves and everyone around them. "Alright, let's go back!"

Gray turned to look at Louis waving good-bye. "Well, we'll be leaving now. Take care!"

"Oh yes, and before you go," Louis handed Lucy the four-leaf clover book. "I won't be needing this anymore, so I hope it would become of use to you."

Lucy smiled at his kind gesture, as she slid the book into her bag. "Thanks! That's very kind of you, Mr. Blackwood."

Louis returned a delighted wave as they turned and headed home. "Goodbye, Fairy Tail! And I hope you'll find your pink and blue companions!"

* * *

The journey back to Fairy Tail was a quiet one, especially without the presence of an obnoxious fire dragon slayer. Dreadful thoughts entered the mind of Lucy, but she refused them to get the best of her. She missed the presence of Natsu, even if they were going to meet him in the guild once they get back. It's been like what; 15 minutes since the last time she saw him? Even so, a part of her heart was missing, and that killed her. Her fingers twitched ever so often, yearning to be intertwined with his. Just the thought of him being nearby comforted her, but of course, she never realized this until he wasn't by her side. _Why am I so madly in love?_ Lucy straightened up, her chin lifted high. _I'll tell him._ She reminded herself. _When we get back._

The team approached Fairy Tail, the smell of beer, oak wood, and happiness in the air. Erza opened the doors, revealing the chattering people and live music accompanying the guild hall. Some heads turned to the door, greeting the team as they walked in.

"Erza! Gray! Lucy-sama! It looks like you're back from your mission! How was it?" A young dragon slayer approached them, holding a white cat in her tiny arms.

"Hey, Wendy! It was great! We were awarded big time!" Lucy giggled, the stacks of gold that she received flashing into her mind. She looked around, searching the guild. "By the way, do you know if Natsu showed up yet?"

The music stopped.

Everyone froze, their conversions coming to a halt. A glass fell, shattering onto the floor. Every head whipped towards Lucy, their faces drawn with fear. Wendy's skin was pale, with sweat dripping down her face. She was trembling. "W-wh-what did you say? Na-Natsu is coming?! Here?!"

And just like that, the guild erupted into chaos. People were running around screaming, Elfman fainted, and Juvia broke down into tears. Havoc sprung into the atmosphere, making everyone delirious with fear. Erza stood on a bench, her face infuriated. "EVERYONE BE QUIET!"

The guild silenced.

"Can anyone tell me what is going on? Why did an uproar occur when Lucy asked about Natsu?!"

Mirajane appeared from behind the bar counter, her eyes wide and frantic. "Have you three forgotten... who Natsu is?"

"Of course not." Gray responded. "He's an obnoxious pyromaniac."

"I wouldn't say obnoxious... more like loathsome... He is Fiore's darkest mage, after all..."

The three mages all froze, completely bewildered by that response. "Fiore's... darkest mage?! No, not our Natsu..." Lucy whispered, trembling from where she stood. _This has to be a joke..._

"You're kidding, right? How could Natsu be known as a dark mage, let alone the worst one?" Gray scoffed, refusing to believe a word she said.

Gajeel stood up and stormed to Gray. He jabbed a finger into Gray's chest, leaning towards him in fury. "You of all people should know how powerful the Salamander is. Remember when we were at war with the Dark Sparrows?! Natsu was the one who destroyed half of our guild, _by himself!_ Did you forget that he is apart of their guild? He is the one who caused so much pain for us- most of us wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Porlyusica and Wendy. That monster... he is Dark Shadow's most dangerous weapon." Wendy shivered as she remembered that day, and Carla put a reassuring paw on her hand.

The three mage's jaws dropped, staring at Gajeel in complete shock. This was all too much to take in. _Natsu would never cause harm to his nakama!_ Lucy thought. However, there was one thing that stood out most from what Gajeel said. "Natsu's... not a part of the guild anymore? He left Fairy Tail?!" Lucy cried. _Natsu would never leave the guild, much less cause pain to his family..._

Mira looked at Lucy, baffled. "Natsu? In Fairy Tail? Never!"

Gray was now genuinely confused. "We fought the Dark Sparrows? Aren't they just some weak dark guild?"

This ticked Gajeel off. "You..." He growled, grabbing the cuff of Gray's shirt. Levy came up and placed a hand on Gajeel, causing him to relax. She looked at Lucy, her eyes evident with worry. "Lu-chan, what's going on?"

Lucy was perplexed, and she was on the brink of tears. She couldn't seem to process anything that they were saying, _especially_ about Natsu being the worst mage in Fiore. And the fact that he was in the Dark Sparrows only troubled her further. _What are they talking about? A battle with Dark Sparrows? That never happened._ "We never fought that guild before. What do you mean?"

Wendy's eyes shot to Lucy, shock evident on her face. "You mean you don't remember? That was one of Fairy Tail's hardest battles. We could've lost so many. We've always been rivals with their guild, and Natsu has always been an obstacle to beating them. Did something happen to you guys during your mission? It's as if you don't remember anything about the Salamander."

Erza looked at her teammates, her eyes holding a deathly stare. "Gray, Lucy, isn't it obvious to what had happened? When we went back in time, we changed something that caused the future to be like this."

Gray shoved off of Gajeel's grip, looking at Erza in confusion. "But how could this have happened? All we did was stop some thieves from Dark Sparrows from robbing that old man's mansion. Why did it cause them to become the worst dark guild in Fiore, and not to mention change Natsu into some fearsome dark mage?"

She rubbed her chin at the thought, trying to search for some reasonable explanation. "I don't know..."

Tears escaped Lucy's eyes as she clenched her fists. "We turned Natsu into a dark mage?!" She cried. Her heart ached; she refused to believe what they were saying. _That's not true, Natsu would never do anything evil._ Gray shot his eyes to Mirajane, refusing to believe their words either. "Where could we find him? I'll have to see this for myself."

Mira's eyes were wide open as she looked at Gray. "You'll want to go back to him? Are you insane? I know you're strong, but you can't simply beat Natsu! You're basically asking for a death wish!"

Wendy stepped up. "She's right! He's so powerful, he could easily beat one of the seven wizard saints!"

Erza's cold stone eyes faced at Mirajane, bearing into her soul. "We have to go. We need to talk to him."

Mirajane slumped, knowing that she couldn't beat Erza in an argument, and hesitantly walked back behind the counter and pulled out a request. "...We have been getting a lot of missions for Dark Sparrows, so I usually keep those under here for the higher level mages." She handed the paper to Erza. "The last place the Salamander was seen was in Solona village. The magic council has given a 1,000,000 jewel reward for whoever captures him, _dead_ or alive."

The three cringed when Mira said that, recognizing the malice that was in her voice.

"Thank you." Erza said, accepting the paper. She walked towards the door, with Gray and Lucy following her.

"Wait!"

The trio turned around, finding Wendy looking at them, her voice laced with concern. "Why are you all doing this? Why do you want to see the Salamander?"

Lucy gave the young girl a gentle smile. "Don't worry," _Natsu won't hurt us._

She wanted to say that, but with everything everyone was saying, doubts filled her mind. _Would he?_ "We'll be back soon. Promise."

Wendy's concern didn't leave, but she seemed to relax. "Okay... just be safe!"

"You can count on that!"

The three left the building, with all eyes trained on them. Even after they left, conversations did not resume, because there was still tension in the atmosphere from the mention of Natsu's name.

Gray slammed the Guild doors shut, turning to look at Lucy and Erza. "Please don't tell me that you both believe this. That Natsu turned evil!?" Lucy didn't remove her gaze from the ground, her eyes filled with tears. "I don't know know what to believe, honestly."

Gray stormed to Erza and pointed at her. "You see? Didn't I warn you all that this would happen? Look where we are now!" Lucy backed away. _Oh no. He yelled at Erza._

Erza held a gaze that could alone kill ten thousand men. A deep fire of rage was blazing in her soul, and it burned right through Gray. He slowly backed away, his head hanging low. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry."

Gray looked up, surprised to see Erza apologizing.

"It was my fault that Natsu's like this, because I suggested for us to go on that mission, even after your warnings. But the only way to fix this is not to fight about it, but it is to do something. We are going to find what we did to cause Natsu to be like this, and then we will get him back." The fury in her eyes wasn't for Gray, but it was for vengeance. Revenge for Natsu's current state.

Lucy returned a hopeful smile, and Gray smirked. "Alright, then let's get Natsu back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading! Please Leave a Comment!


	6. Chapter 6

It took half an hour to get to their destination. Erza clutched the flyer Mira reluctantly gave her, rereading it again and again as she tried to piece the words together. _**Natsu... the dark wizard... terrorizing Solona Village... WANTED! DEAD OR ALIVE!**_ She shook her head, disbelief evident on her face. She couldn't comprehend how messed up this was. Natsu was gone.

Lucy was staring at her feet the whole trip. They took a train there, but they planned on walking back on foot with Natsu. _For Natsu's sake._ That's what Gray told her, even making a remark that if Natsu resisted, then he'll knock him out. She could tell he was just playing around, trying to block out all the threats and warnings the guild gave them about this new Natsu. In reality, however, no one could shake off the fact that all that was being said _could_ be true. Lucy began to doubt the idea of meeting up with Natsu. She didn't want to see this new version of him, even though it wouldn't technically be the "real him". Even if they did plan on taking him back, that would be impossible with this newfound strength that he was said to have. Lucy shook her head, pushing those thoughts into the back of her mind. She had to stay strong for Natsu, and they _were_ going to take him home.

"Remember, by no means do I want you two to fear Natsu from all the awful things that they said about him, but also I do not want you to ignore those warnings either. We are here to talk to Natsu himself, to get our own perspective in this situation, but do not be rash and do anything to upset him. Mind you, this may not be the Natsu we know." Erza looked at Lucy, noticing her face knotted with distraught. "I know this is hard, but you'll have to stay strong." She reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll know," Lucy managed to say through deep breaths. Erza returned a smile as she squeezed her shoulder.

Gray smirked. "Just remember, we will get him back. Natsu is Natsu. He will always be our idiotic flame-brain, no matter what... time dimension we're in." He had trouble finding a name for this predicament they were in. For now, calling this alternate universe another 'time dimension' would work. "We'll bring him back, I promise."

Lucy covered her mouth, shooting her eyes between the two of them. "What about Happy? Where do you think he is?" Erza spoke up, her eyes still trained onto the road ahead of him. "Happy is strong too, you know. He is probably the one watching over Natsu. Those two are inseparable." Lucy studied her teammates' expressions, noticing the deep pangs of guilt in their eyes. She forgot that everyone took a big toll in his disappearance, and that they were all in this together.

"We're here." Gray interrupted, looking at the village's welcoming sign in front of him. Walking towards it, the details on the wooden sign became clear. The letters engraved in the wood were charred and distorted with burnt marks, warping the word "Solona" into "Salamander". Gray sighed as he looked closely at the sign. "We found him."

They entered the village, unnerved by the work Natsu had done. The sky was lit up in orange and gray as thick smoke escaped the flames that conquered their territory within the village. The whole place was ablaze as the trio watched, their eyes and mouths wide open like children watching a light show. Houses, trees, grass, shops; they were all in flames. The three lost their breath, both from the oxygen that the fire deprived them of, and from their inability to comprehend the situation.

Erza looked around, searching for any signs of life. "Lucy! Gray! Let's go and search the area for anyone who is in need of help! Keep a lookout for Natsu too!" The two nodded, before dashing off into the burning houses.

Lucy ran into a small building, noticing that she entered a coffee shop. A glass display of fresh sweets stood across the room of tables and chairs, with a counter on top of it and an old fashioned coffee maker. Nothing was burned within the shop, but it was still nonetheless clouded with ash floating in the air. Lucy covered her mouth from the thick smoke, trying in vain to find anyone. "Hello?! Is anyone here?!" She shouted. Talking became difficult. She yelled two more times, until a small yelp was heard.

"Mommy?"

Lucy rushed towards the voice, making her way behind the counter. There, she found a small girl, about 5 years old, crouching in the corner. Her small figure was huddled together into a tight ball, making her frame nearly impossible to see.

"Hey! Are you okay!" Lucy said, scurrying to the tiny figure.

The girl shrunk even smaller, tucking her head into her knees.

"Please d-don't hurt me, pink monster!"

Lucy froze in her tracks, registering what she just said. _Pink monster? That can't be..._

"Hey, it's ok! I'm not a pink monster, I'm Lucy! I'm not going to hurt you!"

The girl looked up, but she was not crying. She held a stern look her eyes. Her eye color matched her chestnut hair, but it was hard to tell with all the soot covering her body. "Take my hand, I'll help you find your parents!"

The girl lightened up, her back straightening with excitement. "Really?"

"Yeah. Now you'll have to trust me, okay?"

"Okay."

Lucy grabbed the girl's hand and helped her up. Her ankle was swollen, probably from a fall. "What happened to your foot?" She asked, carefully making her voice delicate and gentle. Who knows what this girl has been through.

"I was playing with my friends outside when we started to hear screaming. All my friends ran to their mommies, but I fell and hurt myself. Nobody was left in the village, except the pink monster. He had fire in his hands. When he saw me, he started walking towards me, so I was scared and hid. I came into Lennie's Coffee Shop to hide." The girl looked at me, the determined look still evident on her face. "Are you really going to help me find my mommy?"

Lucy had to admit; this kid got guts. After everything that's happened, she didn't even manage to break a tear. _Why can't I be like that? I need to be strong, like this girl._ She returned a determined look, which reassured the girl. "Of course! I promise, we will find her no matter what!" The girl beamed in happiness. She liked Lucy.

Lucy picked her up, allowing the girl to sit on her hip. "Now let's get out of here first."

They exited the shop.

That's when they saw _him_.

A figure was walking across the street a few blocks away. The flames behind him were fresh and alive, lightening up the frame around him as it darkened his features. He was casually walking to an untouched building in the village, as if he was respectively burning each house at a time, savoring each one. Lucy was hesitant about who she was looking at. This figure could have been anyone... but, all possible choices on who this person was narrowed down to only one option the moment she saw the color of his hair.

 _Pink_.

Lucy's mind went blank, forgetting all of the warnings and stories she's been told in the past few hours. The only thing that ran through her mind was the fact that _it has been a few hours_ since the last time she's seen him. And that was enough to drive her insane. She had forgotten how deeply in love she was, and just how badly she wanted to see him. She had forgotten all the pain she felt and the fear she had for Natsu not reciprocating the love she had for him. And she forgot all the memories and moments they had together that made her realize she loved him. All of that was forgotten, until the moment she saw his hair. Every memory rushed back to her, like a flood breaking dams with it's powerful force. That symbolic color meant everything to her, and the moment she saw it, she felt the need to see him again. She placed the girl down next to her, and then began to jog. Run. _Sprint_ towards the figure. The girl looked at her in surprise. "Don't go over there! Hey, Miss Lucy! That's him! Don't go to him!" She wailed, frantically trying to grab Lucy's attention and to bring her back to safety. She began to chase after her, first by wobbling, and then by hopping, all in vain to get to Lucy. Once again, the girl tripped, falling back to the ground as a failed attempt to reach her new friend. "Miss Lucy!"

Lucy heard her pleas, but she couldn't listen. Not when Natsu was in front of her. She continued to run towards him, desperate on seeing his face again.

Erza and Gray caught up, Gray running to the fallen girl while Erza looking to see where Lucy was going. That's when she saw it, the slender figure in front of her.

"Shoot." Erza sprinted towards Lucy, knowing all too well that that figure wasn't going to be too happy to see Lucy there. She knew that even when she explained this situation to Lucy on their way to the village, it wasn't going to stop her from running to him. _Natsu is not himself right now, but Lucy is too awe-struck to see it._

Lucy finally approached Natsu, slowing down to a stop. Natsu stopped his pace as well, finally acknowledging the person who was chasing him down.

"Natsu..." She panted. "I can't believe it's you..."

He slowly turned around, and it wasn't until then when Lucy realized that something was different. Very different.

His appearance changed.

His hair was shaved into an undercut, with his normal spiky hair flipped to one side. He had ear piercings decorating one ear, and a cut on his eyebrow. His scarf was wrapped around his lower face, covering his nose and mouth like a bandit. His body held a more lean and muscular form, and he wore a muscle fit black t-shirt that was tucked under black jeans, the color gold embroidering his outfit in a ancient Chinese dragon design. And oddly enough, he seemed to be older, like a young man in his mid 20's. It seemed that he had grown an inch or two, now leveling with the height of Gray.

In conclusion: Natsu wasn't only different, but he had become more physically attractive.

It was hard for Lucy and Erza to remove their eyes from him, bewildered by his sudden appearance.

The moment they locked eyes, Lucy immediately realized the biggest thing that set him apart. It was his eyes. Instead of the lively and cheerful onyx eyes that the Natsu she knew had, this version of him had threatening and reckless eyes staring down at her in an intimidatingly laid-back way.

But, even through those menacing eyes, there was a hint of recognition. "You two seem... familiar. Do I know you?" His voice sounded muffled under Igneel's scarf wrapped around his mouth. _He has Igneel's scarf._ Lucy managed a soft smile. It seemed that they still had pieces of their old Natsu after all.

Lucy suddenly spoke, her voice heavy in desperation. "Yes! You do know us! I'm Lucy, and this is Erza! Do you remember!?"

Natsu, taken aback from this girl's abruptness, pulled down his scarf from his face and settled into a smirk. "Oh yeah, I do remember." He turned to Erza, absorbing her features. "You're the infamous Titania, the queen of the fairies," he then turned to Lucy, gesturing to her keys. "And you must be that blonde celestial wizard." Instantly, Natsu's smile curled malevolently, his eyes dilating. "You're both from Fairy Tail, if I'm not mistaken."

It was as if all the oxygen in the atmosphere disappeared at that moment. Lucy stood there, the dawn of realization finally kicking in. Why hasn't she accepted this before? _This isn't Natsu. Not the Natsu I knew._

Erza found it hard to swallow, her throat dry. Her fingers interlocked around the handle of her sword, noticing that was something she did when she felt endangered. She cleared her throat, glancing eye contact with Lucy. "Natsu, I understand that our guilds are... rivals..." She hated speaking to Natsu as an enemy, but that was the only way to get to Natsu without raising suspicion. "But... we just want to talk."

Natsu stepped forward, his hands tightening into fists. "It's an honor, really, having the strongest Fairy Tail members want to talk to me." His smile grew, showing his sharp, white teeth in a bloodlust manner. His fists ignited into flames. "Please, it would be my pleasure to _burn you both into a crisp."_

Lucy gulped, knowing all too well that she was no match for Natsu, especially with him in this time dimension. She didn't want to fight him, and she couldn't move either. She seemed to be trapped in a trance of her emotions...

"WAIT!"

Lucy and Erza whipped their heads towards the direction of the squeal. The little girl was running towards them, limping heavily in the process.

"Hey! I told you to stay with me!" Gray shouted, chasing her down. It seemed like Gray was on his way taking the girl to where the other villagers sought protection, until the little girl saw the flames of the monster.

"Miss Lucy! Stay away! You'll get hurt!" She yelled. She tripped over herself, clutching onto the brim of Lucy's skirt for balance.

Erza shot her eyes towards Gray, anger boiling within her. "Gray! What is she doing here? You were supposed to take her to safety!"

"I know, but she just took off!" He shouted, before switching his attention to the dragon slayer in front of him.

"Natsu... you've... changed..."

Erza nearly face palmed herself from Gray's blunt comment to him.

However, Natsu seemed to ignore him, his gaze fixed onto Lucy.

Lucy grabbed the girl and protectively hid the child behind her legs. She stared at Natsu with courage, a boldness that dared him to get closer. But deep instead, Lucy felt them coming. The tears, that is. But she refused to show her weak side. _Not when Natsu needed me._

She took a step forward. "Natsu. We're not here to fight. We just... uh..." What were they there for? To see if Natsu still remembered them? Obviously, that wasn't true. So what do they do now? _We didn't plan this out through..._ Lucy thought. _It's not like talking to him now would turn things back to normal. If anything, it'll make things worse._ The three of them were simply too blinded by doubt to accept the truth. They _were_ warned about this new Natsu. They just didn't want to think about the possibilities of what their friends told them was true. Yet now, here they were.

Natsu scoffed, clearly interested in the newcomers. His expression deepened, showing a more fascinated look within his impudent smile and audacious eyes. "What? Cat caught your tongue? You can't put up a tough act if you can't even talk." He tilted his head to the side, trying to catch a glance of the girl hiding behind Lucy. "Hmm, and I guess not everyone in the village was burned."

Lucy gasped in disgust at the words her best friend was saying. _Remember, this isn't Natsu._ She was about to remark about Natsu's statement when a figure on a nearby roof appeared.

"Natsu! Of course I'd find you burning a village. Did Diesel tick you off again?"

The three Fairy Tail mages shot their heads to the figure. _Diesel?! What does he have to do with this?_

Natsu's flames diminished, and he shoved his thumbs into his front pockets. "Nah, I'm just having a little fun over here."

The mysterious person jumped down the roof and onto the ground, before making her way by Natsu's side.

"Fancy to see you down here, Siren."

"Come on, don't act like you weren't expecting me."

Lucy gazed at the newcomer, and it wasn't until then when she realized just how beautiful Siren was. She had caramel, rich skin with light chestnut eyes. Her head was shaved on one side, as her curly, rose-gold hair went over her shoulder. Her ear had spiky piercings embroidering it, and she wore a black sweater crop top and black skinny ripped jeans, matching Natsu's outfit in terms of color. Lucy noted how she seemed to be the same age as Natsu, as well as the fact of how _closely_ she stood next to him. Lucy unintentionally held her breath as she watched the girl hook her arm with Natsu, leaning onto him as she stared into his eyes.

"You know, I came to get you. Go back to the guild, master wants you."

Natsu rolls his eyes. "Another mission already? Alright, whatever."

Siren shifted her gaze from Natsu to the rest of the members, causing them to jump from the sudden attention laid onto them. "And who are they?"

"Just some of my old buddies." Natsu looked back at his audience in front of him, a kind smile adorn on his face. This sudden expression frightened Lucy, due to the fact that he held a crazed look moments earlier. He tipped an imaginary hat, gesturing a farewell. "It was nice seeing you again, Titania, and you too, Lucy. Until we meet again." His gaze stayed with Lucy a bit longer, before he turned around.

Siren looked at Lucy in disgust, observant to the small connection she held with Natsu. She decided to let it slide, turning around to walk with Natsu.

"Oh, and I nearly forgot!" Natsu tossed back a set of keys, the sound of metal clanging against metal heard before it crashed onto the ground. "Those are a nice set of keys you have there, Blondie, but they won't be any use to me."

Dumbstruck, Lucy searched her key pouch to find it empty, before shifting her gaze to the set of gold and silver keys on the ground. "Wait, how did he..?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading! Please Leave a Comment!


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone stood there for a few seconds, perplexed by what happened. That encounter they had with Natsu was not at all what they expected. Gray rubbed his neck, flabbergasted for the most part. "He didn't even acknowledge me... Did anyone notice that?"

Erza had her hand under her chin, contemplating on Natsu's behavior. "It seems that the Natsu in this time dimension has a deceiving personality, where he strikes as someone who is nice, yet has an underlying bloodlust... that can make him spontaneous, so it's good to take note of that."

"To be honest, I don't know what would have happened if you didn't step in with your bravery." Lucy stated, turning to the small girl that hid behind her. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Annabelle," She said, her little fingers holding tight onto Lucy's skirt.

"Let's get you to your parents." Lucy understood that if Annabelle didn't intervene the time she did, then Natsu would not have hesitated to attack. However, in certain parts of the conversation they had with him, it seemed like he was a normal guy they were talking to. Especially when he was leaving, that gaze he held with her... There was no questioning she saw the Natsu she knew within it. And to her, that was comforting... It was as if she fell in love with him all over again. This motivated her to work even harder to get her Natsu back. But that girl... the way she stared at Lucy chilled her to the bone. Automatically, Lucy could tell that Siren wasn't friendly, or at least the way Natsu was acting. She knew to be cautious around her, understanding that Siren was an obstacle that she probably was going to face.

Gray, still not being able to wrap his mind around the situation, shouted to the air in frustration. "Not even a look! He didn't even _look_ in my direction! Does he hate me in this time dimension as well?!"

* * *

The sun was at its peak in the sky, its bright yellow color dominating the cloudless void around it. It was midday, and the gentle breezes and chirping wildlife made it a rather peaceful walk for Natsu and Siren down the forest. They were walking side-by-side, with Siren braiding her hair as she continuously snuck a glance at Natsu. After a while, Natsu sighed, looking over to Siren with an eyebrow raised. "Alright, what is it?" Siren shifted her glance to the other direction the moment Natsu looked at her, but then she gave up her act, laughing. "I can never be stealthy when I'm around you, huh?"

Natsu chuckled, shaking his head. "Come on, I thought you knew this already. I learned from the wisest, you know."

Siren crossed her arms. "You were always good at stealing. You were even better than Ruby when she was giving you lessons."

Natsu playfully shoved Siren with his elbow. "What do you mean? Ruby has always been better than me. She's definitely the queen at stealing."

"Then that makes you the prince..." Siren sneered, envisioning a whole kingdom of thieves in her head.

"And wouldn't that make you the princess?" Natsu grabbed Siren's waist and brought her closer to his body. He leaned forward, brushing his lips on her forehead, causing her to giggle. He gently kissed her as he lifted her chin, slowly moving down to her cheeks. Siren backed up to look at him, her light chocolate eyes meeting his onyx. "Natsu, who were those people you were talking to earlier? And don't tell me they're 'old buddies' when I've known you since we were kids."

Natsu moved away from her, his eyes dilating and his lip curling. "They're from Fairy Tail, you didn't see their symbols?"

Siren shook her head as she dug into her memory. "No... I guess I wasn't looking."

Natsu, with that crazed look evident in his eyes, covered his mouth with his scarf. "Sorry, you know how I get when it comes to that guild."

Siren chuckled, shaking her head. "You always get worked up when you think about them. And it's adorable."

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut before reopening them. His eyes returned to it's normal, causal state as he began to rub them. "You said Master needed me?"

She nodded, yet disappointed that he changed the subject. "It's almost as if you don't want to excited over your rivals. How come you didn't kill them right then and there?"

Natsu shrugged. "I don't know, guess I was already pretty satisfied burning that village."

Siren decided to drop the subject. She did not like that blonde girl in the least, and that connection she shared with Natsu has been nagging at the back of her mind the whole trip. However, Siren didn't want it to seem to Natsu that she was on to something, so she decided to pick up with his conversation. "You know, whatever mission Master tells you to do, you better bring me along this time."

* * *

They arrived at the guild, which looked like a tall, black building within the outskirts of the forest. Civilization was a good distance away from Dark Sparrow, with Magnolia being the closest town. Natsu opened the door to the place, revealing a dimly-lit hall with wooden floors and luxurious black furniture. Men hung around the bar, chanting and rooting as two of them arm-wrested. On a couch, ladies and guys were laughing with champagne bottles, as they took turns throwing knives onto a dartboard across the room. The rest of the guild members were chatting, spread throughout the guild as they were involved in their own little groups. As the two walked in, greetings came from across the room to welcome Natsu and Siren.

"Ah, Natsu, Siren! Done making out?" Someone sneered.

"It's Mr. Prodigy! Back so soon?" Another one jested.

"Anyone seen Rube?" Natsu asked, to no one in particular.

One of the girls throwing the knives responded, without shifting her focus from the dartboard. "She's at her house with Diesel. Bet Seph's with em' too."

Natsu nodded, before turning to Siren. "Let's head there when I'm finished with master." He looked around for a second, realizing something was off. "Where's Happy? I thought I left him with you."

"I left him at the bar." Siren pointed to the bar, where Natsu saw Happy arm wrestling the muscular giant, Maxim, with a large crowd around them. "Said he wanted to 'prove his strength'".

Natsu watched as Happy didn't even last for second before his hand (or paw...?) was slammed onto the table. Happy spotted Natsu and Siren behind the crowd and cried his way into Siren's arms.

"He's such a wimp."

"Come on, Happy, I betted money on you."

"I never liked that cat."

Natsu sighed, as Siren struggled to remove the cat from her arms.

"Rennie, they're making fun of meeee!" Happy whined, squeezing his eyes shut as tears flowed down.

"Happy, you can't go around embarrassing me like that," Natsu stated. "You gotta start acting like a real man."

Siren laughed, as she stroked the cat. "Come on Natsu, remember that he's only a cat."

Natsu rolled his eyes, before walking towards the Master's office. "I'll be back in a few."

Servants opened the big doors for Natsu, allowing him to enter the Master's room. A massive chandelier hung in the center of the high ceiling, and a velvet rug adorned the floor. A middle-aged, well-fed man was seated behind a great rosewood desk, with a large portrait of his face hanging right above him. He was dining on an array of appetizers that was covering his desk, with servants continuously switching out the food for different selections. When he saw Natsu walk in, he gestured for him to a seat. "Ah, Natsu, my favorite pupil. Please, take a seat."

Natsu did as he was told.

"It's good to see you, Natsu. Do you want anything to eat at all? Or to drink?" With a snap of his fingers, a servant ran to his side, ready to follow any commands. Natsu was all too familiar with the vacant look in his eyes, something that all the servants in the room held. It reminded him of Master's power: mind manipulation, and as well as the fates of those who deny his rules. All of the mindless servants there were former guild members, but they did something to upset the Master. " _Remind me not to get on his bad side..."_ Something Siren would always tell him.

Natsu shook his head politely. "No, I'm fine, thank you."

"Very well, let's get to business, then." The master said. He leaned forward, his hands folded on the table. "Natsu, you very well know that I only come to you in regards to... complex tasks. I can always trust in you to carry out the most difficult missions. You have supplemented me with indefinite amounts of wealth through your excellent stealing skills and stealth. Without you, I wouldn't have the luxury to have this magnificent office, or much less let our guild be in this impressive guild hall. You are a strong asset to this team, along with my other S-class mages. In fact, after you did your latest scheme, stealing the kings' crown, you have very well exceeded my expectations!" He bellowed a hardy laugh as he proudly gazed at the king's crown being displayed in a glass case on his desk. "I must say, that was a very nice birthday present."

Natsu rubbed his neck, searching to find a clock in the room. _When is he going to end all of this rambling?_ "Look, Sir, I am very flattered and all... but, what is your point exactly?"

"Ah yes. You see, I have a new request, and I think you're going to like this one. Remember _Fairy Tail_?"

Natsu held his breath. His eyes widened, and his pupils dilated into a crazed stare.

"Ah, I knew you'd be interested. You've never said no when it comes to our rivals." Master scooted his chair forward, his eyes attracted to Natsu's bloodthirsty ones. "So, I'm sure you wouldn't mind doing this small favor for me..." His eyes averted to the massive food platter in front of him, his hand searching for what to grab. "Don't you agree that this quarrel... we have with them... must come to an end?"

Natsu didn't say a word, seemingly too intent to what Master was saying.

Master picked up a cracker, lifting it up to examine it. "So, I was wondering, how can we do that? How can we end the fairies? Well, it's easy, really. All we have to do is look at the foundations, the person who holds them all together." He pressed his fingers together, crushing the cracker into pieces. "I want you to kill their Guild Master."

This ignited a fire inside of Natsu, a burning sensation that he knew and loved. His eyes lit up in excitement, with his mouth forming a vicious smile. Natsu closed his eyes and took a breath, pulling his scarf higher up, to the point it was covering his nose. _You have to calm down._ "That's all? You could've just said that." He replied. He tried to suppress his excitement, but it was overwhelming. The mentioning of fairy tail, especially to harm them, was like a drug to Natsu, one that he couldn't get enough of. He never felt more alive fighting against them during their war 2 years ago, and the taste of another brawl with them was too much to bear. As much as Natsu loved the thrill, he hated it. It made him feel too... inhumane. He couldn't let anyone know that, though, because it would be equivalent to showing them his weak side. "Consider it done." He said, his voice laced with restrained delight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	8. Chapter 8

On a quiet afternoon in Magnolia, three mages spent their hours researching on how to successfully reverse the effects of time travel. Lucy invited Gray and Erza into her apartment that day, silently pleading that she wouldn't regret it. In fact, she was surprised to see that no one was digging through her drawers, wasting her bath water, or browsing through her diary, because they were all too involved in the books they had their noses in. Before they reached her house, they stopped by the guild to pick up books that seemed valuable enough in the guild library. The thought of asking Levy for help crossed Lucy's mind, but she decided it was best to not get her involved. However, one thing that they did do was ask questions, and they took note on how things changed around the guild. For example, when Lucy asked Cana "how did I first come to this guild", the drunken teen responded by saying that it was Erza who took her in. Also, they wrote down other things they noticed, such as Elfman's lack of pride, the fact that Romeo's dad has yet to return, and apparently the fact that Sabertooth was still a petty guild. All of these notes were spread across Lucy's apartment floor, along with the books from the library.

At Lucy's apartment, Gray slumped back, physically tired from all that reading. "Alright, Erza, mind giving us a report on what we've found so far?"

Erza collected the loose papers from the floor, organizing it in her hands. "Basically, we understand that the Elfman, Macao, and Sabertooth have all been directly affected due to Natsu's absence in their lives. Since Natsu wasn't here to confront Elfman the time Lisanna 'died', then that could explain why he is acting like a coward in this time dimension."

Lucy pitched in, grabbing the notecard that had Macao's name written on it. "For Macao, it seems that he is still missing, because Natsu never went on that mission with me to look for him." Lucy couldn't help but feel nostalgic, thinking back to one of the first missions she did with her best friend.

Gray decided to add on to the report, explaining the situation about Sabertooth. "Alright, and for Sabertooth, I guess no one stood up to them the way Natsu did during the Grand Magic Games, which is what causes them to still be a 'bunch of jerks' in this alternative present, well, at least according to Gajeel." He sighed, still trying to piece things together. "But still, I don't get it. If everything that Natsu directly affected has changed, then why is Gajeel still in fairytail? Or how come we aren't a bunch of lacrimas in Edolas?"

Lucy put her hand on her chin, complementing his questions. "I guess it's because alternative events unfolded that caused the same result to take place. For example, it's like when Cana told me that Erza brought me to Fairy Tail. Even if Natsu never defeated Gajeel that time, maybe someone else did instead. I guess that's just how fate works."

Gray hung his head low. _"_ That could explain why I'm still alive today. I remember getting ready to give up my life to use my iced shell on Lyon. If Natsu wasn't there, could it be that something else stopped me from doing it?"

Erza shook her head, a smile embellished on her face. "No, and in fact, I believe that event had never happened in this time dimension, because it was Natsu who made us go on that mission in the first place." Her smile soon left her as well, when she remembered her own suicide attempt made in the tower of heaven before Natsu came to her rescue. _What prevented me from sacrificing myself, if it wasn't Natsu who saved me? Was it my fate to stay alive?_

At that moment, they all came to realize just how important Natsu was in their lives, whether he affected it indirectly or not. They created a newfound respect for him, as well as a growing emptiness in their hearts for the nakama that they missed.

Erza neatly stacked the notecards onto the floor. "Alright, so now that we have that across, I have another point that we will need to address." Lucy and Gray looked at her, giving her their undivided attention.

"It seems that this Natsu has no recollection of the time-traveling, nor does he have any memories of our real-time dimension. I'm sure Happy is the same way." Erza looked up, meeting eye contact with each of her friends. "So, why is it that Natsu and Happy forgot about everything when we didn't?"

"Good question," Gray said, already flipping through one of the books. "Didn't Mr. Blackwood explain that he was going to time travel with us just so he could remember to pay us? That proves that time traveling allows that person to keep his/her memories."

"That's true, so there must be a reason to why Natsu doesn't remember us." Lucy mused.

"Mr. Blackwood did mention that Natsu's disappearance could have been a small defect." Erza looked at Lucy, an idea dawning onto her. "Lucy, do you think you can check if the book states any more defects?"

Lucy quickly nodded, opening the four-leaf clover book Louis gave her to the _warnings_ section. She went to the " _defects"_ and was surprised to see that the list was more than a few pages long. "That's a lot of defects..."

"I'm trying to find something that explains why Natsu and Happy don't have any memories of our real-time dimension, right?" Lucy was scanning through the list when her eyes met with #261. "Check this one out; it talks about non-humans and time traveling."

"Non-humans? Well, I guess that counts for Natsu, I mean, he is part dragon-slayer after all." Gray said.

"Yeah, and if you think about it that way, then the only non-humans in our group were Natsu and Happy. What does it say?" Erza asked.

"Well, it says, 'Both creatures and humans are allowed to travel back in time, but for safety reasons, this book cannot detect creatures when traveling to the present.'" Lucy contemplated this for a moment. "So, if this rule is applying to Natsu and Happy, does that mean that the book didn't detect them?

Gray rubbed his temples, perplexed. "Woah, that's trippy. So what you're saying is that Happy and that idiot went back in time with us, but they didn't time travel back?"

Erza nodded. "That explains why they weren't with us when we came back to the present..."

"So since they didn't time travel with us back to the present, they don't have any memories of our 'real-life', you know, before this all happened." Lucy pieced together. She had a dull headache from the amount of brainpower she was using, and the complicated concept of time traveling didn't make things any better.

Gray's eyes darted to the floor. "So, the real Natsu and Happy must either be stuck in the past, or they just don't exist anymore..."

The two girls looked at him in fear. Lucy couldn't find her breath, panicking from the idea he just presented. "Y-you're not serious, are you?" _Natsu? Happy? Not existing anymore?_ She couldn't fathom those words.

Erza shook her head, holding up her hand to stop him from continuing. "Although that may be the case, we can still get them back by going back in time."

Lucy sighed in relief at Erza's response. _She's right. We are going to get them back._ However, one question still tugged at the back of her mind.

"Ok. I understand now why they don't remember us, but what caused him to be like this in the first place? Why is he evil now? All we did was stop a small robbery from the Dark Sparrows, and they were just some weak guild. But now, they are considered to be the most threatening dark guild to Fairy Tail, not to mention the fact that Natsu is now their top member! And who knows where Happy is right now?!" Lucy vented, her breaths loud and labored. She didn't notice how worked up she'd become.

Gray had his hands held out defensively. "Hey, calm down there, let's figure this out."

Lucy took a few deep breaths and sat down, muttering apologies. Erza's thumb bent the corner of her notecards as she began to deliberate. "I have no clue what could have happened, but what is valuable to note is that our actions caused Natsu to be this way, and we can only hope that Happy is with him." Erza stood up, her eyes focused and her chin high. "What we can do next is to gain more information about this, in order to find out what change Natsu's past in order for it to be like this. Only until then will we be able to go back in time and fix it."

It was as if Erza's short speech refreshed the minds of Gray and Lucy, encouraging them to not give up.

* * *

The walk to Diesel's house was long, because Natsu, Siren, and Happy decided to take the back routes there instead of venturing through the busy streets of Magnolia. They're never usually found in large crowds due to their notorious titles, unless Ruby asked them to go and buy some groceries for her.

Now that he thinks of it, Natsu never buys groceries for his own apartment, because he is rarely at his house. He and Happy would always either be at the guild or at Diesel's, and they would just eat there instead. Plus, since Siren still lived with Diesel and Ruby, it gave him yet another reason to be at their house every day.

Siren reached for her keys before unlocking her front door. "Just wait till I get my own house..." She mumbled. "Ruby can be such a fuss sometimes."

"My doors are always open," Natsu snickered as he as he held the door for her.

"Yeah, as if she'll allow that..." He heard her say under her breath as she walked passed him.

The house was a decent one, with a large open space for the living room that opened up into the kitchen. Diesel was found sitting at the dinner table, cards spread across the surface as he held some in his hands. Ruby and Seph were playing as well, sitting at the end of their seats as they were deeply engaged in the game.

"Hey kids," Seph said, yet his piercing blue eyes stayed focused on the match in front of him.

Diesel slapped his stack onto the table, revealing an Ace and two Kings. "I must say, you must both tried very hard at this game, but this match is mine."

Ruby, with an unreadable expression on her face, broke into a mischievous smile. She placed her stack down, revealing three Aces and a King. "How adorable to think that you are worthy enough to stand against me. I am the queen of gambling, so know your place, servant." Ruby reached the center of the table, grabbing the pile of materialistic fortune that was bet by every player.

Seph collected the cards, grumbling under his is breath. "Why do I always bet the most when I never win..."

"Hey Rube, gonna keep that cash to yourself?" Natsu chuckled, walking pass the table.

Ruby blinked once, and then twice, before huffing in frustration at the fire mage in the kitchen. "Natsu! Give it back!"

As he approached the fridge, he held the stack of bills, fanned out in his hands for him to count them. "30,000 jewels? Not bad..." He said, placing it on the counter. He instead looked into the fridge, pulling out a coke and some fish sticks for Happy.

"I don't know when you surpassed me in stealing." She laughed, reaching for her money on the counter.

"Seph! Wanna hear what I did today!? I beat Maxim in an arm wrestle!" Happy chirped, greedily snatching the frozen fish sticks out of Natsu's hands as he landed on the card table in of front the gentleman shuffling cards.

"Oh? Is that so?" He smirked.

Siren rolled her eyes. "As if. That cat better watch his tongue."

Diesel got up from his chair and walked over to Natsu, playfully ruffling his hair into a tangled mess. "How's my favorite Dragon Slayer doing?"

"Hey, quit it," Natsu complained, squatting his hand away. Diesel used to always do that when he was younger, pestering him like a playful dad.

Ever since Diesel and Ruby took in Natsu and Siren, they treated them as their own. Especially since the couple is now in their late 30's and married, the younger mages grew up seeing them as parents.

Diesel leaned back, grabbing the coke from Natsu and taking a sip. "I heard that master wanted to talk to you. What was it for?"

Thinking back to what Master said, Natsu grew serious. "He wants me to do an assassination. To our enemies' guild master."

This seemed to catch everyone's interest, causing them to stop what they doing to hear what he had to say. Diesel looked at Natsu, surprised. "Oh really? It's been a while since we did anything with them. I wonder why master wants to mess with them now."

Natsu snatched his coke back, chugged it, and slammed it against the coffee table. "It's because he's bored, since all he does is freakin' stuff himself. I don't understand; he wasn't this fat before I joined."

Seph laughed, shaking his head. "We didn't have a lot of things before you joined. Like our new guildhall, or his _filthy_ _rich_ office."

Happy sat on the couch's arm, looking at Natsu with concern. "Natsu, how do you feel about dealing with our... enemies _?"_

Natsu shook his head, chuckling. "Giddy, that's for sure. And I hate it."

At that moment, everyone fell quiet. Only the very people in that room understood why Natsu felt this way, besides Master, of course.

"It's been two years; I thought that it would've worn off by now."

They all understood that because of what happened, Natsu now gets triggered when he hears the name of that guild, so they made sure to avoid mentioning it.

Diesel patted Natsu's shoulder. "Natsu, it's been a while since what happened, and at this point, I don't think that this feeling you have will go away. Just embrace it."

Natsu shot his eyes at Diesel, enraged. "Oh yeah? You of all people would know that killing was never my thing. Not until Master freaking messed up my head, making me some bloodlust freak. I would've never killed so many people if it wasn't for him."

Siren opened her mouth, but closed it right after. She knew Natsu wasn't a killer, he never was, so this became the only problem to him not becoming the strongest dark mage in Fiore. He was already a master at stealth, kleptomania, and fighting. This artificial instinct Master put in him solved that problem, and he needs to understand that. She looked at Ruby, and she nodded. _She'll do this one, she always has a way to convince people._

Ruby walked to the dragon slayer, before leaning onto the counter next to him. "Natsu, remember that first time I taught you how to steal?"

Natsu was taken aback from her sudden comment, but he responded with a small smile, nostalgically thinking about his childhood.

"Yeah, I remember, why?"

"You've always been a prodigy at stealing; you are so excellent in that. But still, you never wanted to kill. No matter how hard we tried, it was just not in your nature. What Master did wasn't immoral, it was just something any dark guild master needed to do. Motivate their strongest mage to become even stronger. Accept what he did as a favor."

Natsu remained quiet, looking down at his feet.

Seph looked up, shuffling the deck of cards in his hands. "Alright, so are you gonna do it?"

Natsu rolled his eyes, impassively looking at him. "Yeah, whatever. But I'll have to do it later; I promised to take Ren out tonight."

Siren smiled. "Glad you remembered."

"Oh," Natsu turned to Happy. "And if I'm going to go through with this, then I think you should come with me, so you know, I won't go aboard."

Happy saluted. "Aye sir!"


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy, Gray, and Erza had made their way back to the guild, tired from the relentless 12-hour period of tracking down Natsu in this alternative time dimension. It was 7 pm, and the only thing that Erza had in mind was settling down on a piece of strawberry cake. Even with all the chaos arising with Natsu's evil version of himself and the changing of the whole present due to a simple mission, the scarlet mage found it absolutely necessary to take a sweet break. Neither Gray nor Lucy objected, as they found themselves making their way to the guild bar as well.

"Can I get a coke?" Gray asked Mira, desolately placing his elbow on the counter.

"Strawberry cake, please."

"I'll take coffee."

The three of them seemed exhausted, sluggishly sitting on the bar stools.

Mira smiled in response before fetching their requests. She placed the cake and beverages on the bar counter. "You all look drained! How was your day today?"

Lucy gave her a dimpled smile, yet she didn't know how to respond to her question. "It was all over the place, that's for sure."

The Take Over mage's grin suddenly dissipated, her eyes narrowing. She leaned towards them, her voice lowering to a whisper. "You didn't look for Natsu, did you?"

Erza exchanged a look with Gray and Lucy before her eyes shifted to Mira. "Need I remind you, it was for _research_ purposes only." Her lips were tight as she hissed out those words.

Mira backed up, her eyebrows furrowed. "So you did look for him. And you found him?"

Gray nodded, his eyes glued to his soda. "He was burning a village."

Mira shook her head in disapproval. "I can't believe you all came back alive. Master would be furious if he heard about this."

Lucy's face brightened in a matter of seconds, her eyes widening in realization. _Master! Why didn't we think of this before?! Master was the one who brought Natsu to Fairy Tail, so we can just ask what happened the day, July 7, x777!_ Lucy shot up from her seat, looking at Mirajane with sparkling eyes. "Where's gramps? Can we talk to him?!"

Mirajane cocked her head, confusion clouding her expression. She wrinkled her nose. "Gramps? No no no... Gramps isn't our master anymore..."

The three of them shot their eyes at her, the same perplexity reflecting on their faces.

"What do you mean? You're saying Makarov isn't Fairy Tail's guild master?"

Erza questioned, completely in a state of bewilderment.

"If Gramps isn't our guild master, then who is?" Gray asked, anxious for an answer.

As if on cue, a bulky, muscular man began walking down the stairs of the second floor. A fur coat was draped over his shoulders, and a scar shaped like a lightning bolt was configured on his face. It was Laxus, but something was _very_ different about him in this time dimension. The left side of his face was engraved with a large burnt mark, spreading from his hairline to his cheeks. It covered his eye as well, texturizing his skin with scarred tissue. Mira made her way to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him into a warm embrace. He returned the gesture, hugging her with his muscular arms. He bent down and gave her a gentle kiss. "Hey, babe."

"Good afternoon, Master Laxus! I haven't seen you all day!" She giggled, pulling away from his grasp.

Lucy spat out her coffee, Erza dropped her spoon, and Gray choked on his cola. The three of them were utterly speechless.

"You're master?" Erza pointed a shaky hand pointing towards him.

"You two are _d-dating_?!" Lucy stuttered. She had never felt so many surprises in one day.

"Wh-what happened to your face?!" Gray blurted, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Laxus looked from the three mages to Mirajane. "What's wrong with them?"

Mira bit her lip, her head slowly shaking from side to side. "I don't know, they've been acting very strangely. It's like they're hearing everything for the first time."

"I just don't understand. How did _you_ become master?" Erza's eyes bore into Laxus, her expression nothing more than bewilderment.

He glared at Erza, attitude laced in his words. "Well, if you'd _recall_ , I overthrew that old man's claim being master. He was too old for it anyways."

Erza thought back to Laxus' attempt of becoming guild master. _In this time dimension, did he truly succeed with his attack against Fairy Tail?_

Mirajane looked at Laxus, her arm interlocked with his. "I still can't forgive you of what you did, but at least I can say that Makarov is enjoying his retirement."

"And... how did you two become a thing?" Lucy questioned in disbelief, her eyes switching back and forth between the two.

"This happened a while ago," Mira responded. "After Laxus became master, he got the courage to ask me out." The take over mage caught Lucy jotting these notes down, and that frustrated her.

She pressed her lips together. "That's it, something's up here. Why is it that you all are acting so strangely? And why did you try to find Natsu?"

Laxus shot his head at them, his eyes narrowed. "You did _what_? What on Earthland made you do _that_?"

Lucy felt cornered, unable to explain their situation to them. Luckily, Erza spoke up for her. "It is an investigation we are doing. Nothing to be concerned of."

Mirajane raised her eyebrow. "Is that why you ask so many questions?"

Erza nodded, along with the mechanical head nod of Gray and Lucy.

Laxus thought for a moment. "For whatever investigation you are doing, for you to have to find Natsu shows that you are willing to put your lives to risk. I won't interfere with whatever you're doing, so just don't do anything stupid."

Lucy was disturbed on the fact that even Laxus, easily one of the strongest mages in her time dimension, was distressed by the strength of Natsu. And the horrid scar that stretched across his face wasn't putting her to ease either. If only she knew what had happened...

Erza gave a facile smiled. "Of course. You won't have to worry about us."

* * *

Magnolia was quiet, as few people walked down its darkened streets. It was past 9 pm, and the only movement that was in Natsu's apartment was from the fire mage himself, silently preparing for his midnight mission.

Natsu was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with black cargo pants. He strapped a vest onto on his chest before latching on knife pockets down one leg. On top of everything laid his white scarf, securely wrapped around his neck.

Happy sat on the bed next to him, intently watching his whole equipping process. Natsu seemed to be focused, but Happy decided to start a conversation anyways. "How was your date with Siren?"

"Good," Natsu responded, opening a drawer stashed with weapons. He dug through it, pulling out and examining knives he saw fit. "Ren wanted Chinese food, but we had tacos instead." He slid the daggers into his pockets.

"How'd you get into Magnolia without being noticed?"Happy questioned, handing him some smoke bombs.

Natsu accepted them, latching them onto a strap that slung across his chest. "Easy. She had a hat and sunglasses and I wore a wig." He held a hair tie in his mouth as he pulled his hair up into a small ponytail.

"Seriously? Ha! I didn't know that trick actually works!" Happy laughed.

Natsu chuckled along, taking a quick glance at his oldest friend before finishing his hair. The blue cat innocently sat off the edge of the bed, kicking his legs as he waited for the Salamander. Natsu was glad to have him by his side, because he always felt at peace when he's around. Once Natsu was done, he nodded. "Alright, let's go."

The moon was well in the sky. The night was still, and Natsu sped through the town as he leaped on the rooftops from building to building. When Fairy Tail came into view, he led to a stop, perching on top of a shop as he gazed at the massive guildhall in front of him. It was about the same size as his own guild, but its bright and vibrant colors gave it a stark contrast. The flag adorning the center of the guild held the proud symbol of Fairy Tail, and one look at it stirred something inside Natsu's heart. He gave a sick and twisted smile, and his eyes beamed with excitement.

Happy, who was trailing behind him the whole time, frowned at the sight of this. He sighed, shaking his head. "Natsu... don't go overboard, okay?"

Natsu snapped out of his trance, changing his glance to his best friend. He took a breath and smiled softly. "Don't worry, buddy. And plus; that's what you're here for, right?"

Happy gave him an affirming nod, and Natsu turned back around, satisfied. He got back to focus, observing the building for a way of passage. It seemed that only one light there was on, and it was on the second floor. "Lively place." Natsu mumbled, acknowledging how it was only 9 o'clock, yet no one was there. One thing he knew about Fairy Tail was just how (despite their vibrant colors) _unlively_ they were, at least compared to his life at Dark Sparrows. It would be three o'clock in the morning and people would still be partying at his place.

He pointed to that one window lit up, and gestured towards Happy. Jumping into action, Happy opened his wings and grabbed onto Natsu's back. The cat flew towards the building, and Natsu leaped onto that window ledge.

Inside, Natsu spotted a big, muscular man, seated on a desk as he was filling out report papers. He was listening to music through spiky earphones, and his back was facing the window.

"Found him," Natsu whispered, cracking the window open. Before crawling in, he faced Happy, pointing a finger at him. "Stay out here, m'kay?"

The blue cat nodded.

Natsu slid into the room in complete silence, not even his breath giving away his presence. Even so, Laxus looked up from his work, sniffing the air. He slowly took off his earphones before turning around, spotting the dark mage by the open window. The Fairy Tail Guild Master shot up, his hands pressed against his desk. His mouth tightened in a thin line as his eyes widened. "Salamander?"

Natsu stuffed his hands in his pockets, walking nonchalantly towards him. "Ah, you were always so _sharp_ with your skills. How'd you know I got in?" He sneered, slowly approaching him.

Laxus clenched his teeth, a bead of sweat falling down his face. "What do you think you're doing here?!" He spat.

Natsu vanished from his sight, suddenly reappearing behind him. He placed his hands on Laxus' shoulders. "Isn't it obvious? I want a rematch."

Natsu clenched his opponent's shoulders as his hand ignited on fire, burning through the thick fur coat that draped Laxus' shoulders.

Laxus spun around to face the intruder, throwing his heavy coat across the room. "You'll be damned to mess with Fairy Tail again... Leave at once, Natsu..." Lightning crackled at his feet. He prepared himself in a fighting position, his arms put up against him in defense, yet his whole body couldn't stop from quivering. Laxus refused to show his weakness, but he had to admit it, he had never felt more afraid.

Natsu chuckled, lowering his head. "Sorry, Laxus. You escaped death last time, but that won't happen again." His fingers reached down to the pocket strapped to his leg, pulling out a short blade. "Now, prepare to die."

Natsu launched forward to Laxus in a splitting second, thrashing the knife towards his chest.

With Laxus' immense reflexes, he dodged to the side as he chanted out a powerful attack: "Lightning Dragon's Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!" He charged forward and punched Natsu with a lightning fist, sending a large shock of electricity through his opponent's body.

Before his attack even ended, Natsu launched forward, clawing at Laxus with his hand ablaze. Caught off guard, Laxus was struck from the attack, flying backwards several feet. He immediately pushed off the wall and transformed his body into a large lightning bolt, and he began sprinting around Natsu with an accelerating speed. Natsu took off as well, his speed making him look no more than a red blur, as he challenged Laxus's pace. Happy watched from the window, yet he saw nothing but two blurs, a yellow and red one, as they fought each other with great intensity.

The walls trembled as fire explosions and bolts of lightning shook the air, and Happy ended up losing his balance from the window sill. He fell onto the floor, and an attempt to summon his wings and fly back to safety failed when a lightning bolt crashed on the wall above his head. Frightened, Happy made his way under the desk, trembling within his blue fur as more fire and lightning attacks hit the floor and walls around him. Happy took a look at the office he was in, acknowledging the charred wooden floor and burnt-up furniture from the fight between two powerful opponents. _If this continued any longer, then the whole guild would be destroyed!_

Both blurs suddenly stopped moving.

Happy's eyes exchanged between the two men, relieved to see that Natsu was the only one standing. He had minor scratches and bruises, with the thrill of adrenaline and bloodlust in his eyes. Laying in front of him was a beaten-up Laxus, with deeper cuts on him from the dagger Natsu held, as well as burnt marks under the shredded clothes on his arms and legs. On the center of his body had a shredded hole in his purple button-down shirt, and carved on his skin was a flying sparrow, resembling the guild mark Natsu had on his own shoulder.

Happy was astonished. The fact that Natsu wasn't only able to hold his own against Fairy Tail's guild master, but to also defeat him and mockingly draw their emblem on his chest in that short period of fighting was beyond him.

"There you go, if your death doesn't scare your guild enough, then hopefully that scar will." Natsu sneered, slowly walking closer to Laxus. "Plus, it compliments that scar I put on your face."

The lightning mage had sweat drenched on him as he huffed for air. His furious eyes bore into Natsu's excited ones, stubbornly denying the look of defeat.

"Natsu... I don't know why you're here, but I want you to know that I'm not planning to kick the bucket any time soon..."

Natsu laughed. "It's as if you think you have a choice!" Natsu squatted next to Laxus, his face growing serious. "Look, I'd have to admit, you're probably one of the strongest mages I've fought. I mean honestly, no one surpasses on fighting over 2 minutes with me. I'd hate to say this, but I'm gonna miss you." Unexpectedly, his face contorted into a sadistic expression, his eyes dilating and his canines glaring in a malicious smirk. " _Now just wait until I melt the skin off your bone._ "

Happy froze in terror, realizing that with Natsu's current state, he was too close to the battle. Natsu was in berserk mode, and that never ended well. Happy felt Natsu's power peak as it became uncontrollable, and he knew that being only a few feet from the Dragon Slayer had put himself in danger. **_"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Mystic Flame."_** Natsu's body ignited in flames, its majestic red and black colors moving like an entrancing dance, a type of flame that he has mastered. It is to mesmerize his opponents, so they could burn under his scorching heat. Happy shielded his eyes from Natsu the moment he knew that was his plan, but unfortunately, Laxus got caught staring at the flames, his eyes widening in captivation. "What... what is this...?" He stuttered.

"Shhh..." Natsu interrupted him, placing his finger on his lips. "I want to hear you scream in agony..."

Happy felt the atmosphere get hotter, to the point where waves of heat were visible to the eye. The room became a furnace, as the wooden floors began burning and objects started melting. Happy knew that he was supposed to stop Natsu if he went out of control, but at this point, he would basically be asking for a death wish. He had to get out of there, and _fast_. Happy began running to the exit, but the excruciating heat made him weary and tired. The small cat fell to his knees, and he broke into a coughing fit as he inhaled smoke.

Laxus' dignity was just as tough as his skin, and he refused to let that go even as he was entranced by the fire. Laxus' shirt was well burnt off by then, yet the stubborn man refused to give Natsu what he wanted. Laxus gritted his teeth and slapped his own cheek, doing all that he could to remove his eyes from the enchanting flames, to attack Natsu, to run to safety. But he couldn't get himself move, only to endure the scorching flames with his tough, sweaty skin.

Laxus might've been able to handle it, but Happy wasn't. He began screaming, yelling on the top of his lungs for the pain to end, for Natsu to stop, for them to go home. He wanted anything for it to end, because the heat was unbearable.

"NATSU! PLEASE! STOP, IT BURNS!"

Natsu head snapped back, noticing his best friend on the floor, screaming in pain. No no no... that wasn't the screaming he wanted... He wanted Laxus, Fairy Tail's almighty guild master to scream, not his best friend...

Instantly, the heat stopped. The fire dissipated, and the screaming ended. Happy was unconscious on the floor, and tears brimmed Natsu's eyes.

"Crap!" Natsu skidded to Happy's side, and he carefully cradled him within his arms. "What have I done... what have I done..." The cat was unresponsive, with only uneven breaths that shook from his chest.

Natsu pressed Happy's chest against his ear, hearing a soft flutter of a heartbeat within his small body. The dark mage shook his head as he gritted his teeth, and a muster of curse words hissed from his lips.

Laxus threw himself to the side, panting heavily from the release of that torture.

He looked up, only to find Natsu and his cat gone, as well the interior of his room completely demolished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued!


	10. Chapter 10

_"You see that?"_

_"Yeah, it's huge!"_

_"How do we get it?"_

_"Well, we'll knock it down!"_

_"But what if we break it?"_

_"You're such a wimp, Natsu. We can cook that thing for breakfast!"_

_A young boy and girl stood in front of a tree, looking at a big blue and white egg. The egg had a flame design on it, its blue pattern decorating the surface of its shell. The girl was only 12 years old, with the boy seemingly around the same age as her. She pulled out a slingshot, one eye squinted as she took her aim. "Watch this, I'm gonna snipe it in one go..."_

_Just before she could shoot, Natsu jumped in front of her. "Siren, wait! Let's not hurt it... I'll just climb the tree instead..."_

_Siren released a puff of air, frustrated. "Why do you have to be so booooring..."_

_Natsu faced this tree, and prepared himself. Due to the intensive training that he's been through with uncle Seph, he was able to easily hoist himself onto a low tree branch and scale his way up. The egg seemed to be half his size, but Natsu was still able to wrap his small arms around it and bring it back to the ground._

_Siren seemed to be drooling when she laid eyes on the egg. "You want it scrambled or fried?"_

_Natsu gasped, defensively hiding the egg behind his body. "We're not gonna eat him! I think I wanna take care of it instead..."_

_"Ew... like a baby?"_

_"No! Like... like a pet!"_

_"What is Diesel gonna say about you taking care of a baby?" Siren seemed to be an inch taller than Natsu, with her short, rose-gold hair in two French braids. Both of their heads weren't shaved yet, with Natsu instead sporting his hairdo with a messy style. She wore a stripe shirt and overalls, cuffed up by her ankles, revealing her bare feet, whereas her smaller friend had a blue t-shirt and shorts, with worn-out sneakers on._

_Natsu looked at the egg in admiration, with a small warm feeling budding inside his heart. "I dunno what he's gonna say, but I don't care. I'm going to take good care of this guy..."_

* * *

13 years later, Natsu was running, tightly holding the same small figure he took custody of years ago. An unconscious cat was in his arms, burnt and battered in critical condition.

"Hey Happy... come on, buddy, wake up..."

No response.

Tears brimmed the dragon slayer's eyes, as a swarm of hateful comments convulsed his mind. _How can I be so reckless? I should've never done this mission... I should've never brought Happy along... This is all my fault... I did this to him. He's gonna die, He is going to die..._ Natsu couldn't even focus on where he was heading, bumping and shoving people aside on the streets as he ran to the only place he could think of. Within the town of Magnolia was Diesel and Ruby's house, and he could only hope that they'll be able to help him. What would have taken half an hour to get there took him only a matter of minutes, thanks to his enhanced speed.

It was 9:30 at night, and a loud banging noise was heard at Ruby's door. She opened it, shocked to find Natsu there, leaning against the wall as he panted heavily.

"Natsu... what's going on?"

Natsu was looking down at Happy, not able to remove his eyes from him. "It's Happy... he's not responding to me..."

Ruby looked at the feline, taking in his injuries. Patches of hair were burnt away, with black and red splotches replacing them. Blood seeped out of his wounds, matting his fur with its deep crimson color. Natsu desperately tried to press down his wounds with his hands, but the blood continued to ooze out.

Ruby grabbed Natsu's arm and pulled him inside, setting him on the couch. She ran into the kitchen, digging in the drawers to pull out medical equipment. "Natsu, tell me everything that happened."

"I used my mystic flame on Laxus, but Happy got caught in it. I-I lost control..." Natsu was hyperventilating, his eyes darting around as he studied Happy, who was cradled on his lap.

Ruby approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Natsu, Natsu look at me." Natsu did as he was told, staring into the gentle brown eyes of someone he could call his mother. "Deeps breaths, okay? Everything's going to be just fine..." His breaths slowed down, and he began to nod to her words. Ruby took Happy from the fire mage, cleaning the cat's wounds with a damp towel. "Natsu... that magic you used was an extremely powerful technique you learned from an ancient book. If Happy got caught in that..."

Natsu snapped his head to Ruby, looking at her with dread. "I know; he's going to die." Natsu grabbed his hair, shaking his head. "I should have never accepted this mission... I don't kill people; that's not who I am..."

Ruby opened her mouth, searching for some more reassuring words. She wanted to tell him that he must kill, to make his guild proud, but she didn't have the heart to say it. Instead, she saw how killing brought only suffering and pain to Natsu.

Seph walked into the living room, an apron around his waist and a broom in his hands. He was helping Ruby clean the house, while Diesel and Siren were out. "Is that Happy? What happened to him?"

Ruby turned to the blonde man. "He's severely injured."

Ruby began wrapping a bandage around Happy, when Natsu shot up from his seat. "I would have gone to the hospital, but I'm a _freaking_ dark mage. They would take me in. What should I do?"

Seph rubbed his chin, his face deep in thought. "You know... there's a mage in fairy ta-" Ruby shot a warning glance Seph, and he quickly corrected himself. "...at that guild... you were just at... who is specialized with healing powers. She was the one who healed all the mages you defeated in that war we had with them a few years ago."

Natsu's eyes sparkled, and he looked at Seph with interest. "Where can I find her?"

"Were you able to kill their guild master Laxus?"

Natsu shook his head.

"Well, there you go. Check their infirmary; she could be trying to heal him as we speak."

* * *

The moment Lucy was alarmed about the attack on Laxus, she immediately made her way to the guild. It was 10 o'clock at night, so she knew that Erza and Gray were already sleeping at that time. It was, in fact, Wendy who called her, sending her a message that Mira found Laxus severely injured in his office. Lucy was quick to leave her apartment, grabbing her notepad and pen just in case if she catches any important details.

Lucy entered the guildhall, surprised to find it empty. Normally, there would be a party happening at that time of night, or at least a fight. But nobody was there. The chatter and laughter and smell of beer were absent, and that was unsettling to her. Now that she thought of it, when she was at the guild earlier that day, everyone lacked their usual cheer and energy. Was it because Laxus was now their guild master, so the rules ended up being more strict? Or is it since Natsu was never apart of the family, his high spirits never had a chance to spread to everyone else?

As Lucy took in her surroundings, Mira came out of the infirmary. She ran to her, tears stained on her cheeks as she grabbed Lucy's hands. "I'm so glad you're here! Wendy's in the infirmary now, healing Laxus as we speak. I've never seen him so badly injured, not when that time Natsu put that scar on his face...Why did that monster have to come back?"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Natsu did this?"

Mira nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm going to go buy more medical equipment. Can you help Wendy?"

Lucy began making her way to the infirmary. "I'm on it!"

The room seemed as dull as always; its white beds on stone floors and stone walls. Laxus was lying on one of these beds, and Wendy had her arms outstretched above him, working her magic as she stood next to his bed. Sweat collected at her brow, and Lucy could tell how this was draining a lot out of her. In fact, Wendy barely noticed when Lucy walked in; her mind was so concentrated on healing her guild master.

"Lucy!" Wendy exclaimed, giving the celestial mage a small smile, without stopping her procedures.

"Wendy! How is he?" Lucy asked, approaching the side of this bed. Laxus's eyes were closed shut, and his jaw was clenched as he groaned in pain. Burns and lacerations adorned his skin, covering his bare abdomen, arms, and legs. He didn't have any bandages on, but his wounds were dressed with cream and ointment.

"We were able to clean and treat his wounds, but the guild is out of bandages. Mira just ran out to get some more."

Lucy covered her mouth, soaking in all the injuries Laxus endured. The one that stood out the most, however, was the bird-shaped carving on his chest. The wound wasn't deep enough to tear through vital organs, but the lacerations still nonetheless exposed some bone. "That symbol... Is that the dark sparrows' guild mark?" Lucy asked, her voice quiet.

Laxus opened his eyes to see the blonde mage staring back at him. "Yeah... that punk got me pretty hard this time..."

Lucy sat down on the edge of the bed, making sure not to disturb the injured dragon slayer. "Do you know why Natsu would suddenly do this? I mean, attack you out of nowhere?"

Laxus shook his head. "No clue. I just know that he was set out to kill me. I was pretty sure I was going to die too, but I guess I just got real lucky."

Wendy dropped her hands, huffing out air in a weak satisfaction. "There you go, I hope that would keep you stable until morning. She sat down on an empty seat behind her, wiping sweat off her brow.

"Thanks, Wendy. I was feeling like crap, but I'm a lot better now." Laxus responded, pushing his way up to a seated position.

Wendy smiled, waving her hand to dismiss Laxus's gratification. "No worries! Anything for Fairy Tail's guild master!"

Lucy looked at Wendy, noticing her tired features. "How are you feeling, Wendy?"

Wendy rubbed the back of her neck as she gave a sheepish grin. "A little drained, but I'll be fine. Master Laxus's health is a priority, so I'm glad I was able to help!"

Lucy smiled at Wendy's selfless actions, always wanting to put others before herself. She turned back to Laxus, pulling out her pen and notebook. "Do you mind explaining exactly what happened? How did you make it out alive?"

Laxus rolled his eyes, seeming a bit annoyed. "You and that damn notebook..."

"I need to collect as much information I can on Natsu!" Lucy's pressed her lips together. How was she going to get Laxus to talk?

She took a deep breath, resting her notebook on her lap. "I'm doing this for Fairy Tail, you know. Any information that we can get is valuable, and I just want to do all that I can, so that things could go back to normal... where Fairy Tail can live peacefully, in a world without fear of the Dark Sparrows." Lucy held determination in her eyes, a determination to make things right again. Fairy Tail _will_ go back to normal, and she _will_ find a way to get Natsu back.

In this time dimension, the two dragon slayers did not know of a world where the Dark Sparrows were not a threat to them, so they were in awe with Lucy's optimism.

Even though Laxus and Wendy did not understand the true meaning of her words, they still took them as words of encouragement. Wendy looked at the blonde mage with admiration. "Wow, Lucy, I've never seen you speak with such determination! I always thought of you as a timid girl..."

That surprised Lucy. _I'm timid in this alternative present? Well, I guess you could say that I started to feel braver when Natsu was around, so it could make sense..._

Laxus signed. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened. But I'm only saying this once."

Lucy perked up, not expecting Laxus to give in so easily. "I'm listening."

Laxus scooted backwards, adjusting his position, but right when he was going to speak, he froze, his face contorting into the epitome of fear. He was staring at the window, which was now suddenly open.

Wendy held her breath, the color from her face draining. "Do you guys... feel that?"

Lucy, unnerved by the sudden change of their attitudes, looked at both Laxus and Wendy with her eyebrows furrowed. However, it wasn't until then when she felt it too. An ominous, dark presence, came from the back of the room. Lucy whipped her head to its direction, finding a young man leaning against the wall. He was next to the open window, his arms crossed and a scowl written over his face.

 _Natsu_.

The celestial mage jumped up from her seat, petrified by the man who stood before her. She realized that the presence he held was nothing like the nonchalant and laid-back kind-of-guy she met earlier that day. Instead, she felt an overwhelming wave of wrath and vexation, radiating from him like a thick fog.

Everyone was frozen, unable to move, as he slowly made his way across the room.

Towards Wendy.

His eyes were intensely staring her down, giving her a glare that sent chills down their spine. Her pupils were dilated and her eyes were wide, as she trembled in fear as he approached her.

Laxus was alert, holding his hand out protectively in front of her. "Natsu... What are you doing here? Are you not satisfied with your victory? Was killing your own cat not enough for you?"

Natsu didn't even look at Laxus, when the bed the lightning mage was on suddenly erupted in flames— scorching, bright red flames that consumed the man.

Lucy's face became as white as paper. She covered her mouth with trembling hands, watching the bed that Laxus was on turn into an inferno.

Laxus screamed in pain, kicking and thrashing his way out of the flaming bed until he crashed onto the floor. He curled up into a ball, clutching his body in agony.

Wendy shrieked at the sight of this, jumping behind her chair as a desperate attempt to create a wall between her and the dark mage.

Natsu stopped in front of the small girl, tilting his head sideways. "You do healing magic, correct?"

His voice seemed empty, hollow from any emotion. It was unnerving.

Wendy sniffed and whimpered, her voice quivering as she sobbed quietly.

Natsu grew impatient, grabbing the girl by her dress collar and pulling her forward. "ANSWER ME!"

Lucy launched forward, wrapping her arms around Wendy, who broke down crying. "Natsu! Wh-what is wrong with you? Leave her alone!"

Natsu shifted his gaze towards Lucy, and within his eyes, she saw something that she would never forget. It was fear.

"Please... just tell me." He slowly released his grip on Wendy, and sunk to his knees. Wendy's fear turned into uncertainty, as she began to feel disturbed by Natsu's mental deterioration.

"Can you heal him? He's dying." Natsu's head was hung low, tears brimming his eyes.

Lucy was taken aback. The drastic change in Natsu's temper was something to be concerned about. Lucy let go of Wendy and kneeled down in front of him, her hands on his shoulders. "Who? Who is dying?"

Natsu shook his head, defeated. "It's Happy. It's my freaking cat." Agony flashed over Lucy's eyes, as memories of the blue cat she knew and loved flooded into her mind. She looked up to Wendy fearfully. "We have to help him."

Terror overtook Wendy's face. She grabbed Lucy's arm. "That's insane! Lucy, we can't trust him... Did you _see_ what he just did to Master? Come on, we have to get out of here..." Wendy's voice was shaking, as she spoke.

As she held on to Lucy, she turned towards Laxus. "Master, are you okay!?" Laxus was on the floor, his eyes shut as he writhed in pain. Even with his tough dragon skin, Natsu had inflicted deep burnt marks all over him.

The fire must have been _excruciatingly_ hot.

Laxus looked up to the girls and his eyes widened. "WATCH OUT!"

It was too late.

Natsu had appeared behind them, and hit the back of their heads. "I'm so sorry, girls." He sniffled. "But I've wasted enough time."

Laxus was pushing himself off the floor, his muscles violently shaking.

"Don't do this! Natsu, you're going to regret this..." Natsu turned his back to Laxus. He climbed out the window, one girl on his back and the other in his arms.

"As if I care." He said, before taking off.


	11. Chapter 11

It was the next morning when Erza and Gray got the news. Erza had immediately felt something wrong as they walked into the guild, and if the desolate faces and thick tension in the grand room didn't say enough, then Mirajane's soft crying was what had dug into her heart. Gray gave Erza a worried look, before making his way towards the bar. "Mirajane! What happened? Why is everyone so sad?"

"They're gone..."

Erza didn't want to push Mira any further, but she needed more information. "Who? Who is gone?"

"It's Wendy and Lucy... Natsu came and took them last night!" Mirajane threw her hands to her face, and a sob wracked her body. "That monster... he even injured Laxus too..."

 _Why would Natsu do this? What were his intentions?_ "I must see Laxus right now. Where is he?" Erza demanded, gripping the counter with knuckle-white fingers.

Mira wiped her eyes and stepped out of the bar. "Follow me."

The three mages made it to the infirmary, noticing Bickslow standing at the door. "Here to see the chief? Freed and Evergreen are in their guarding him by his bed."

"Yes, Erza and Gray want to talk to him. Can we go inside?" Mira asked, hesitant on Laxus's current condition.

"Sure. He is doing better now." Bickslow opened the door for the mages, allowing them to go in. Gray had doubted that they would have been allowed to enter if it were just him and Erza.

When they stepped into the infirmary, they saw Laxus lying still in one of the beds, with the other two Thunder God Tribe members standing on-guard next to him. Only one bed over, the charred remains of one of the infirmary beds was left in a heap. Gray looked from the burnt bed to the resting guild master. Did Natsu come and attack them in the infirmary? _It would explain why he has his bodyguard now. Who knows when they could have another attack._ Freed was the first to greet the newcomers, although his attention was held towards Mira. "Any chance of contacting Porlyusica?"

Mira nodded. "Yes, Jet had left early this morning to speak to her, so she should be coming soon."

"So Wendy is really gone? And Lucy? What exactly had happened?" Gray asked, wanting to know more answers. This new Natsu was already too much to handle, and now he is going around hurting and kidnapping their friends.

It was Evergreen who spoke, her hand stroking through her hair as she looked off to the side. "Apparently the Salamander snuck through Master's window last night and attacked him. That fool... sneaking up on a king like Laxus and inflicting danger onto him... That makes me _sick_."

Freed picked up on the explanation. "He left after attacking him, but came back soon after and kidnapped Lucy and Wendy while they were healing Laxus. On top of that, the Salamander had caused further damage on Laxus during his second visit."

Erza and Gray cringed as they followed Freed's gaze to the burnt infirmary bed.

"He is a _monster_..." Evergreen shook with anger, her eyes squeezed shut, on the bridge of tears, and her fist clenching tightly.

"Of course it had to be Natsu to come and attack our guild like this." Mira shook her head, leaning over to her lover's side as she held his hand. "Nobody has ever been able to overpower him. Not even Laxus."

"I'm right here... you know."

Everyone looked at Laxus, and the sight of seeing the battered guild master awake sent relief flooding the air.

Evergreen launched towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Master! I'm so glad to see you're alive!"

Laxus slowly sat up, wincing with every movement. "I told... I told that brat that I wasn't kicking the bucket anytime soon... So there is no way in hell that I'm gonna doing that now."

Freed's tears fell loosely from his eyes, and he bit his lip to prevent himself from sobbing in joy. "You're so strong, Captain... It's good to see that you're doing well." His voice was calm, but his whole facade was betraying him.

Once Laxus settled into a sitting position, his blanket fell, revealing his bare chest. Everyone was able to see the shape of the Dark Sparrow's symbol scarring onto his chest.

"Did... Natsu do that?" Erza asked cautiously, unsure of how he'd answer.

"Yes. He also barged into our guild, humiliated me, and kidnapped two of our comrades. From the looks of it, this is definitely not coming from personal matters."

"No, in fact, this could be the whole guild sending a message," Mira said, rubbing her chin in extensive thought.

Ezra's eyes widened. "You're not saying—"

"You know exactly what I'm saying." Laxus interrupted. "We've been at this tension for far too long. Fairy tail has been living with our _tail between our legs_ , to the point where we have lost our identity. We are not going to live in fear against the Dark Sparrows anymore, nor against the Salamander." Laxus grabbed the end of his blanket and flung it off him. He planted his feet on the floor, his eyes gleaming with conviction.

 _"Where Fairy Tail can live peacefully, in a world without fear of the dark sparrows."_ Lucy's words echoed throughout his mind. What has he been doing these past two years? After being defeated by the Dark Sparrows, his guild had done nothing but hide under its shadows. It's time for that to change. "They may have humiliated me, but harming our guildmates is crossing the line."

Erza could not help but notice how much Laxus has taken after his grandfather. When Laxus was first trying to take over the guild in her time dimension, she had feared that he would become a brute dictator over Fairy tail. But instead, she could see the strong passion he had for his guild, and the care of keeping everyone safe. Erza smirked. _He really would make a great leader._

Laxus looked at each and every one of the mages within that room. His eyes held a fierce boldness within them, like he had made a decision that no one was backing him out of. "That is why I am declaring war on the Dark Sparrows."

* * *

***The night before***

Lucy woke up to the feeling of cold water on her face.

She gasped, coughing and panting as she struggled for air. Besides her, she could see a drenched Wendy coughing too. The young girl looked around frantically, taking in her surroundings.

They were in a house. A small coffee table was in front of them, and a fireplace was at the wall. Lucy looked behind her, to see was a small kitchen and a staircase going up. "Where are we...?"

They were sitting on a 3-seated couch, with Wendy curled up on one side of the furniture and Lucy's sitting on the other side with her knees to her chest. In front of them, Natsu was crouching down, holding a bucket in his hands.

"Good, you're awake," He grumbled, before standing up and walking out of the room.

Lucy's breathing became more panicked. She whipped around to watch her capturer leaving.

"Natsu! Wait, don't go!" She had to understand what his motives were, and why he had brought them here. Getting up and leaving was certainly not an answer.

"Lucy! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Wendy asked, her small voice trembling. "Did the Salamander really kidnap us?"

Lucy looked back at Wendy, realizing how selfish she was for not checking if Wendy was okay. And obviously, she wasn't. She was a shaking wreck curled up in the corner of the couch.

"I'm fine, don't worry. How about you? You have a bandage on your shoulder... did you get hurt?"

Wendy shook her head. "No, I'm fine actually. But what about you? You have a bandage on your hand."

Lucy looked down, noticing a white clean bandage wrapped directly over her guild mark. Why did she have it? It wasn't like she was injured... "I don't know why it's there, actually."

"Lucy... I'm scared. What is he going to do to us?"

Lucy saw that their wrists were tied together, but that didn't make any sense. Natsu must have not expected much from them if he had only restrained their hands. She knew that staying here would allow them to understand Natsu's motives, but she had realized how much of a threat he truly was in this time dimension. The best action here would be to take advantage and escape.

"Okay Wendy, we have a good chance now if we want to get out of here. If I could just get my Celestial Spirits, then—"

Lucy's eyes widened, as she felt through her empty side pouch. _Oh no..._

"Sorry, but escaping is not an option." Natsu coldly stated, coming down his staircase. He dangled Lucy's keys from one hand, before slipping them back into his pocket.

Wendy pushed herself up on the couch, struggling with her tied hands. "You better let us free, you jerk! Or Laxus will—"

Wendy's threatening words lost momentum, as she looked at Natsu's arms. Within them, the wind mage could see a small, wounded cat that he gently cradled. Both girls were grief-stricken by this sight, and it wasn't until Natsu came back to the front of the couch when they were able to get a closer look at him. The blue cat was painted red with bloodied stains and matted fur, and unskilled bandaging was wrapped around his body. "He's just like Carla..." Wendy softly spoke.

Lucy's eyes teared up as she looked at her close friend in disbelief. "Happy..." She choked a sob, mentally stopping herself from the urge to reach out her fingers to stroke his fur.

"Please... Would you heal him?" Natsu begged, gently lying Happy on the coffee table in front of Wendy.

"Of course," Wendy scurried onto her knees and immediately held her tied hands over him. Happy laid there, motionless, as Wendy focused her magic into healing him.

"What happened to him?" Lucy whispered, her eyes frozen on the cat. Memories of Happy showing up on her windowsill and tugging playfully at her hair flashed before her eyes. He was always the energetic furball, so seeing him like this was becoming too much to handle.

"He got... caught up in one of my attacks towards your guild master." Natsu solemnly stated. He sat onto the chair next to the couch, his elbows on his knees and his hands covering his face. "It's all my fault..."

Before Lucy could respond, Wendy shot a glance at Natsu, her eyes sparking with contempt. "Of course it's your fault! If you hadn't attacked our guild, then this would've never happened! You wouldn't have hurt our Guild Master, and you wouldn't have hurt your cat!" Wendy shouted. She was huffing and puffing, but she never stopped healing Happy. "Is this how you treat your friends?" She had whispered the last part, yet the conviction was still there.

Natsu looked at Wendy with shock, and Lucy was dumbfounded. She had never seen Wendy have this much resentment towards someone. Wendy was always the shy and timid girl back in her time dimension, so did the Dark Sparrows truly bring out this much hatred in her?

Natsu paused, his eyes closed shut as he took a wary breath. "You're right. I've been reckless, and that had made me become a bad friend."

Lucy looked at Natsu with her eyebrows raised. Why was he agreeing with her? That was very out of character for Natsu; in both this time dimension and with her original Natsu.

"Sorry for the conditions. You girls are free to go as soon as Happy is healed." He seemed tired, his gaze connected with the floor as he spoke with slow, defeated words.

Wendy and Lucy were surprised by what he said, both looking at him with disbelief.

"But let's make a deal," He continued. "You can't leave _until_ Happy is healed." At this instant, his cold stare was back, and he looked from Wendy to Lucy. "Can you both agree to that?"

Lucy completely agreed. She could see the desperation and seriousness that he held in his eyes, and she knew exactly how much Happy meant to him, no matter what time dimension she was in. But when Lucy exchanged a glance with Wendy, she could still see distrust written across her face. _What would it take for Natsu to gain Wendy's trust?_

"Please. This is for Happy's sake." There it was. He was begging again. Has Natsu really discarded all pride to get through to Wendy?

"...Fine." Wendy resigned, looking back down to Happy. She had just stopped her magic healing towards Happy, and his breaths were already stabled. In fact, most of the burnt marks on his fur were gone. "That's as much healing that I could do for now. He should rest for tomorrow, but I should at least redress his wounds."

Lucy released a breath of relief. She was glad that Wendy had decided to stay, even if was just to help Happy.

Even Natsu physically slumped in his chair at the sound of Wendy's decision. "Good. You two could stay out here in the living room for the night, and I could bring some blankets for one of you to sleep on the floor. Oh, and don't mind the hand restraints, they are just to make sure you don't try to escape." Natsu left to the kitchen grabbing some fresh gauze and ointments from his cabinet. Lucy could see how his mood had incredibly lightened.

He came back to the living room, placing the medication down on the coffee table next to Happy. "And I've locked all the windows and doors, so please don't try to escape." Wendy didn't expect this change of attitude either, and her eyes followed Natsu as he left to go upstairs and came back down with a pile of blankets. "There isn't much food in the fridge —I don't do groceries for this house— but whatever you find in there you could have. Just don't eat Happy's fish..."

 _Wait... is Natsu rambling?_ Lucy's eyes widened at the sight of this. _Well, after the tension is gone, and Happy is looking safe, he probably doesn't know how to act with two girls in his house._ Lucy almost laughed at the thought. From the looks of it, the Natsu from this time dimension is not as dense as the original one, so that should explain why he is so nervous around ladies.

He dropped the blankets onto the floor, but held onto to a small pillow. "Should... I leave Happy with you tonight?" Taken back by the question directed to her, Wendy nodded her head. "Yeah sure. In that way, I could watch over him."

Natsu nodded, placing the small pillow on the chair he was sitting on and carefully settling his best friend onto it.

"And thank you... For helping me."

That was what threw them off guard. Lucy had never expected for this Natsu to thank her, especially from all that she has seen and heard from him. He just didn't seem like the guy to be grateful towards his enemies. And yet, with his unkempt hair and black clothes blood-stained and wrinkled, he had resorted to two fairy tail girls during his times of need. And it was all the more surprising when Lucy saw the corner of Wendy's lips curl upward, and she said " _you're welcome_."

Natsu smiled back, and it was not the creepy bloodlust one that she has seen him do when they first met. It was a warm smile, much like the ones he did back when he was an optimistic pyro, although it had lasted no more than a second before it dropped, and he ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, it's getting late, so I should be going now. But just let me know if you need anything. My room is upstairs."

The two girls watched him as he headed to his room. After he was gone, Wendy turned to Lucy with an unreadable expression on her face. "You saw that too, right?"

Lucy laughed. "What? The wave of emotions? Or that smile he gave at the end?"

Wendy looked up the stairs, before looking back at her friend. "Lucy! I'm being serious here!" She hissed.

Lucy still couldn't help from giggling. "But did you see how much he rambled? It was adorable!"

"I've never seen this side of him, Lucy. He is known to be the brutal, ruthless, bloodthirsty Salamander! We've seen it during our war with the Dark Sparrows, and not to mention just _hours ago_ when he scorched our Guild Master from his bed! I don't understand, Lucy, how is this a joke to you?"

Lucy grew serious. It's obvious that Wendy doesn't fully have his trust. And at the same time, she was making sense. Where did this soft side of Natsu come from? And what happened to that destructive side? And most importantly: which one is the real Natsu of this time dimension? "Wendy, all I could tell you is that we know nothing about the Salamander. He may be our enemy, but he is also just a person. And right now, we can see that he struggling with losing his closest friend. When a person is vulnerable, you are able to see their true nature. Natsu is vulnerable right now, and he came to us for help. Honestly, I believe that his nature is truly a kind-hearted person. Maybe... Maybe it is other people who forced this ruthless personality over him..."

 _That's right... Natsu has a kind-hearted nature... no matter what time dimension he's in. He will always have a care for others... Is that what's happening to Natsu right now? The great, notorious Salamander is actually a sweetheart who rambles in front of girls and cares deeply for his cat? Could it be true that it's the Dark Sparrows that are inflicting pain onto him?_ Lucy started to understand the severity of Natsu's situation, how he could be trying to be himself under the forces of his guild.

"Yeah, you know, you may be right Lucy." Wendy looked down, fiddling with her dress. "He did seem very sincere when he thanked us, and when he gave us that kind smile. You really think that he is not faking it?"

"I know it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cute babbling Natsu after kidnapping Wendy and Lucy? Now that's just adorable. Please leave your reviews, I'd love to hear what you think!


	12. Chapter 12

Lucy had offered Wendy to take the couch, while she set up her own bed using the blankets on the floor, right in front of the fireplace. Wendy was already fast asleep, and Happy seemed to be dreaming peacefully as well, thanks to Wendy's magic. Lucy, on the other hand, had too much on her mind to fall asleep, so she instead listened to the crackling fire in the fireplace. The flames grew to be larger and wider, allowing her to become fully embraced by its comfort and warmth. It reminded her of Natsu's fire, and how he was always there to provide her with a strong sense of safety. It certainly wasn't there before, but Lucy could now see how this current Natsu is opening up his warmth. It's in his own, unique way, but Lucy knew that could be nothing more pure.

"Is the fire bothering you?"

Lucy turned around to see Natsu walking into the kitchen. His hair was brushed and he was changed into clean nightclothes.

"I could eat it if you want..."

Lucy chuckled. Natsu was never that good at humor, but she enjoyed it. It seemed like that part of him was apparent in any time dimension. Lucy sat up, shaking her head. "No thanks. It's comforting, actually."

Lucy had a lot of questions to ask this Natsu, because she knew that any detail she collected could help with bringing the old Natsu back. However, she didn't want to come off so brash to him, considering that he was her guild's enemy.

She decided to wait on her questions, but even so, there was one that she couldn't help but ask.

"Hey, uh, why did you bring me here along with Wendy?" She asked rather bluntly. "She's the one with the healing magic, so what was the point of taking me as well?"

Natsu grabbed a glass from his shelf and filled it with water. He thought for a moment before responding. "I didn't want your friend to feel uncomfortable if it was just her at my house. So, I guess I was just lucky that you were there when I arrived."

Lucy didn't really expect that answer from him.

Natsu leaned his back onto the kitchen counter, looking into her eyes. "Now, answer my question. You... must be afraid of me." He said, taking a sip from his water. "I'm the top mage of Dark sparrows, which is the greatest enemy to your guild. And on top of that, I kidnapped you. Why are you taking this so well?"

The real reason is simple. It is because she was _not_ afraid of him. Not when she has known him as her best friend, and since she could clearly see his true nature. He is actually a sweet and caring person, just like the Natsu she knew back home. "You don't scare me, Natsu."

He furrowed his eyebrows, not fully understanding what she was saying. "I don't scare you? I literally destroyed your guild two years ago during that war. I think I even killed some of your members."

Obviously, Lucy did not remember this war. Even so, it seemed that everyone was afraid of Natsu's actions during it. And as Lucy could tell, it looked like Natsu was unnerved by what he did as well. "Natsu... are you afraid of killing people?"

He hesitated. "No... why would I be? I told you, I'm a Dark—"

"Okay," Lucy interrupted. "Sure, you're the Dark Sparrow prodigy. But that's only your title. That doesn't identify you. So who are you, really?"

Natsu remained silent, staring at his cup of water.

"I'll tell you who _I_ think you are. You're just a softy under all that tough skin. You don't enjoy killing, or doing evil, but it's what you've been raised to do." Lucy knew she was stepping into dangerous territory, prodding a stick at his weaknesses in order to understand him fully. But she knew. She knew that what she was saying was correct because she had realized that this is Natsu's true nature, that he has the roots of compassion and love for others. _It's a great quality..._ she admitted. A _nd I admire that._

"You must love to analyze people."

"So... you do admit that you have a soft side?"

Natsu lowered his head, and his gaze fell to the floor. "I've always had one, and that's what makes me weak to my guild." Natsu's voice had lowered when he spoke the last part. Lucy knew whenever Natsu was getting personal. For the old Natsu, his tone became serious, and his eyebrows knit together as he carefully chose his words. He would always do that when he talked about his weaknesses, and it seemed like this Natsu was no different. He closed his eyes and chuckled. "What's the point of telling you this. You're just going to report everything I say to your guild master anyways."

Lucy shook her head. "I may be in Fairytail, but that doesn't mean you can't trust me. I'm true to my words, Natsu. You _don't_ scare me— hey, are you alright?" Lucy was afraid that it was something that she said. Natsu dropped his glass cup, and it shattered on the floor next to him. He didn't even flinch to the noise, only grabbing his wrist to stop it from trembling.

"Sorry... Just, don't say that name again... your guild name..." He said through gritted teeth.

The glass shattering had caused Wendy to jolt awake. She jumped, frantically looking around. Lucy got out of her make-shift bed and hurried to Wendy's side. "Don't worry Wendy, Natsu just dropped a glass."

She took a shaky breath, nodding her head. "Oh."

Natsu cursed under his breath before bending down to pick up the shards.

Lucy got up from the couch, looking at Natsu with concern. "Hey, do you need help? What was that all about?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll tell you later, but for now, just don't say your guild's name, or remove your bandages..."

They were odd requests, but Lucy nodded her head anyways. "Um... yeah, okay."

"Thanks. Sorry for waking you up, uh..."

"It's Wendy," The girl said, rubbing her eyes.

 _Natsu doesn't know our names._ Of course he wouldn't! "And I'm Lucy."

"Right." Natsu stood up, the shards of glass in his hands. "And since we are doing formalities, I'm Natsu. But you already knew that." He tossed the shards in the trash and turned to head upstairs. "Sorry to wake you both up, I'll see you guys in the morning."

Wendy rubbed her eyes and let out a big yawn. "What time even is it?"

Lucy looked at the clock hanging above the fireplace. "Huh. It's 1:30 am."

* * *

Natsu did not know how he felt with these two girls in his house. One was afraid of him, and the other wanted to dig deep into his life. _What was her name... Lucy?_ It's odd how the first time he met her, back in Solona village, he had immediately felt a connection. And here she was now, not in the least intimidated by him kidnapping her and her little friend. _Such an odd person._

Natsu overslept. He woke up at 12 pm and quickly got dressed. He walked down the stairs to check if his "guests" were awake, and was surprised to see Wendy and Lucy chatting as they shuffled around in the kitchen. Lucy was cooking eggs, while Wendy mixed a batch of pancake batter. Natsu didn't know how to react to this scene, but he completely froze when he saw a jolly blue cat kicking his legs as he sat on the counter.

"Happy!" Natsu cried, rushing to his kitchen counter to wrap his best friend into a tight hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay."

"I would have been a goner if it wasn't for Wendy! She saved me with her healing powers!"

Wendy smiled, her cheeks blushing. "Oh Happy, you know it's nothing..."

Natsu looked down, his face heated with guilt. "I'm sorry, buddy. I attacked you yesterday, and you could've died because of that... What kind of friend does that make me?"

Happy hugged Natsu even tighter, burying his nose into the crook of his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, you will always be my best friend. No matter what happens, I will always be by your side!"

Natsu shut his eyes, holding onto his closest friend. He hated to admit it, but he desperately needed Happy. Without him by his side, Natsu didn't think that he could handle dark guild missions, or practically anything, on his own. Happy was his stronghold whenever Natsu fell into the depths of darkness. In his hardest times, his feline friend was always there. Natsu could say that for all of his family; Ruby, Diesel, Seph, Siren, they all knew what was best for him, even when he didn't.

Wendy looked at Happy and Natsu with a soft smile. "You two make sure that you have each other's backs." Natsu smiled back at her and nodded.

Lucy flipped her eggs onto a plate and pushed it towards Natsu. "Here you go, sunny-side ups. Happy says they're your favorite."

Natsu sat onto the counter chair and accepted the plate of eggs. "Thanks, Lucy... It seems that you and Wendy are getting along great with Happy."

Happy flopped onto Natsu's shoulder. "They're amazing! I think I made two new friends today..."

"Thanks, Happy, we're glad you're just doing okay," Lucy replied, setting down a plate of scrambled eggs for Wendy and herself.

Natsu looked at Happy, noticing how he had fewer bandages around his torso and arms. _I guess they're right. He is healing._

"I'll stay true to my word. Since Happy is healed, you both could leave whenever."

Wendy stopped mixing her bowl of pancake batter and looked at Natsu with eager eyes. "Really?"

Natsu nodded, taking another mouthful of eggs. "But come back whenever you'd like. These eggs are great."

Happy sulked, sliding off Natsu's shoulder. "Awwww... But Natsu, please don't let them leave so soon!"

It seemed like Lucy opposed his statement as well. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. "Happy's right... I don't think he is fully healed yet! Didn't we agree not to leave until your cat is completely healed?"

Natsu studied Happy, looking at all his bandages again. "Well... I guess I'll need help rewrapping those bandages. Really, it's Wendy's call. She's the healer."

Wendy was surprised by the sudden attention. Lucy and Happy looked at her with pleading eyes, and Natsu waited for an answer. Natsu understood why Happy wanted them to stay; he doesn't really get along with the Dark Sparrow members, besides Siren and the group, so he had probably really enjoyed the company of Lucy and Wendy.

_But why does Lucy want to stay so bad? Does she really want to make sure that Happy turns out to be okay?_

"Well, um..." Wendy looked like she was lost on what to say. Natsu did know just how much she despised him, so he wouldn't really blame her on leaving. But for Happy's sake...

"I guess we could stay just a few more hours. Just to make sure that you don't need any more healing." Wendy told Happy in a soft voice. "But Laxus still needs healing, and I'm sure that everyone is worried sick about us back in fairy—"

Happy jumped forward, pressing his paws against her lips. "Hey, don't say your guild's name in front of Natsu!"

Wendy's eyes were wide as she looked at Happy.

"Why? I don't get it." Lucy said, looking from Wendy to Natsu. "You say that we can't show our guild marks or speak our guild's name. What's the reason to it?"

Happy looked at Natsu, seeing if he was going to share his secret.

"If you're going to stay around a little longer, I might as well tell you why."

Happy looked a bit worried. "Natsu... if master found out you told the enemy guild..."

"Don't worry, I trust them." Natsu said, grinning at Lucy. "Remember the war we had two years ago, between our guilds?"

Lucy and Wendy nodded.

"Well, my master found me as a major asset to winning this war. But, there was one flaw in me that he saw as... problematic. I refused to kill. So, he used his magic to cast a mind manipulation spell on me, a very powerful spell he learned that changes a person's way of thinking. He has lost magic, and this ancient spell is able to link that person's emotion with anything he desires. He used this on me, connecting your guild's brand with my emotions. Ever since then, I have an 'artificial drive' to kill when it comes to your guild." Natsu's head hung low, and a shadow covered his eyes. "The spell is supposed to be worn off by now, but I still sometimes feel its effects. Even thinking about your guild makes me lightheaded..." Natsu closed his eyes shut, and the corner of his mouth twisted upwards. _Look at me... I'm so pathetic._

Natsu never liked killing, and the idea of it still sickens him. The fact that he has given up some of his own will for the sake of the Dark Sparrows had never sat well with him, but Ruby, Siren, Diesel, and Seph insists that it is what must be done. Even so, the war with Fairytail was not the first time Master had used this lost magic on him. There were multiple times when he was assigned to kill people during missions, and Master would simply use a little of his magic to "motivate" Natsu to kill every time he was given the request. If Master gave the name of the guild or town, then the spell gave Natsu a specific drive to destroy them. Those smaller spells did not last as long, since they were only missions. But for the war... Natsu had never seen Master create a bigger magic circle in his life. He knew that the spell he had on Fairytail was going to last for a long time.

"Natsu..." Wendy gasped, her hands clasped over her mouth.

Natsu looked up, nearly forgetting that they were there. That's it. He had told his darkest secret to a pair of Fairytail girls. What was he thinking? The only other people who knew were Siren and the others, so why did he entrust this secret with them?

Natsu closed his eyes, petrified on what they would do with this information. "Please don't tell anyone... I wouldn't want this to spread..."

Lucy set her fork down and spun towards Natsu. She pressed her hands on the counter, and Natsu can make out her trembling frame. "Your master... took away your will to act on your own... What he did was outright cruel! He should be ashamed of himself! He has no right to treat his own guild members this way!"

Happy tilted his head, muddled on Lucy's words. "What Master did was cruel? I thought it was helping Natsu become a stronger person."

Wendy shook her head with dismay. "No Happy, it's not right to do that to a person. The actions you do and the things you believe in are what defines you, so removing that ability for you to follow your own morals is like taking away a piece of your identity."

Natsu didn't know what to say. He had never seen his guild master's actions as unjust... he had only thought of it as something that needed to be done. Lucy and Wendy, they were just both so different from the people he had grown up with. And at the same time, he loved it. It's as if some part of him agreed with everything they said.

Natsu chuckled. "You guys are something else. Look, I need to go, or else my pals will come looking for me. So will you two continue to watch over Happy while I'm gone?"

Wendy nodded. "Yes, we can do that."

"Great. I'll be back in a few hours. Hopefully you guys will still be here while I'm gone." Natsu didn't know why he said that last part. Maybe he enjoyed their company as well.

"Don't worry. We wouldn't want to leave Happy by himself." Lucy said, patting his fur.

"Lucy, Wendy, you're are so kind! I hope we'll stay great friends!" Happy sobbed, wiping his nose with his arm.

"Don't mind him, he doesn't get this much love and attention from the guild." Natsu laughed, before heading to the door. "I'll be back."

Natsu left his apartment complex, heading towards his guild. He vaguely feared the possibility of the girls leaving his house and reporting his address to their guild. He _did_ kidnap two Fairytail mages and held them captive in his house. But, a fear that overtook his own wellbeing more was the safety of Lucy and Wendy, and what the Dark Sparrows would do if they found out about them staying at his house. Natsu could only hope that they were going to be safe while he was gone.

Natsu found himself walking to Ruby's house instead of the guild. He was not yet ready to confront his guild master when he failed to kill Laxus. Besides, Ruby and Seph must be worried about Happy's condition, so it would be best to tell them that he was okay.

Natsu decided that he could trust telling his group about Lucy and Wendy. _Siren, on the other hand..._ He didn't think about how she'd handle this, but he knew that it's not going to be good.

Natsu showed up on their doorsteps and unlocked the door with his own pair of keys.

"Hey guys," Natsu said, stepping into the living room. Ruby and Siren were chatting on the couch, and Natsu could see Diesel and Seph drinking beer in the kitchen. Conversations halted when Natsu walked in, and all eyes were on him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ruby replied, pushing off her seat to greet Natsu. She was wearing her usual navy blue dress, and her hair was pinned in a half-bun-half-down hairdo. She wrapped her arms around Natsu and pulled him into a hug. "I heard what had happened to Happy. How is he?" She was always the sympathetic one towards Natsu's feelings. Whenever Happy or Siren got hurt and Natsu ran home crying, she was there to make sure that he was comforted. This time, it was no different.

Natsu squeezed Ruby back. "He's doing fine now. Seph suggested for me to get that healing mage from FT to heal him." They usually referred to Fairytail with that acronym to avoid the master's spell to activate on Natsu.

"Oh, so you got that girl to help? How did that work out?" Seph asked, walking into the room. His light blonde hair was tousled to the side, and one hand was shoved into the pocket of his jacket while the other hand was holding onto a beer bottle.

"Kidnapped her, and tortured her into using her magic."

"Yeah! That's how a dark mage does it!" Seph punched his beer into the air, pumped from Natsu's description, although the dragon slayer cringed at how much he had stretched the truth. In reality, he begged. Maybe cried, even. Anything it took to get Happy the help he needed.

"You know, I heard that there were two girls you kidnapped." Siren stated matter-of-factly, her arms and legs crossed as she pouted, looking off to the side. He was definitely going to have to talk about this with her later.

"Yeah, there was another chick. I held her by the throat while the healing mage was doing her thing." _Another lie._ "How'd you hear about her?"

"News spread that you kidnapped two of FT's mages." She said, sounding intrigued and angered at the same time.

"The news had also spread that Laxus is still alive." Diesel walked into the living room, holding his own beer bottle. He had his black hair combed back neatly, and his piercing blue eyes did not leave Natsu's sight. "Master called us in this morning and told the news. Now get this, you had not only failed to kill Laxus, but you kidnapped two of their members, thus infuriating their _still-alive_ guild master and making him declare war on us!"

Natsu can't remember a time he'd seen Diesel this mad before, although it was probably that time he had first brought Happy home. But now, Diesel's eyebrows were creased together, and his sharp jaw was clenched as he stared Natsu down with those fierce, intimidating eyes. But what unnerved Natsu the most wasn't on how he looked, but by what he said.

"Laxus had declared... _war_ on us?" Natsu felt as if his whole body was going numb. War meant destruction, death, fear: everything that Natsu was not looking forward to.

Going back into war meant that Master would have to cast a new spell so that Natsu could renew that killing drive... Natsu shivered. After everything that Wendy and Lucy had said, he had decided that he no longer wanted to deal with Master's magic.

 _This can't be happening._ Natsu wondered. _I caused this?_

Seph nudged Natsu's shoulder with his beer bottle. "I don't know what Diesel's so grumpy about... but I say that this is a time to party! That war against FT rose us up the ranks, so we'll be unstoppable once we win this time!"

"I think I'll pass..." Natsu muttered, unable to see war as Seph envisioned it. This whole conversation was making him sick. "Diesel... is there anything else that Master told you guys during your meeting?"

"Nope, that's about it. But since you weren't there, he said that he'll go by your place to tell you the news himself."

Natsu went numb.

"He's going... to my place?"

"Yeah," Seph responded, taking another swing of his beer. "But you'll have to leave now if you'll want to catch him."

No. _No no no_. This is _really_ bad.

"Natsu... are you feeling alright?" Ruby asked, concern etched in her voice. "You're looking pale..."

"I... I have to go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Natsu... I don't think he can handle another war. But hey, it is what it is.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucy, Wendy, and Happy were all sitting on Natsu's couch, casually conversing about each other's lives. They chatted about various topics, but the celestial mage couldn't help but wonder just how bizarre this all was.

Just the day before, Lucy was told that her best friend had become Fiore's darkest mage, all because of a time-travel mission gone wrong. So, along with Gray and Erza, Lucy had spent the entire day researching in order to understand how this came to be.

But now, here she was, sitting on the infamous Salamander's couch, chatting with Wendy and his cat. And as it turns out, this new Natsu is nothing like how everyone said he would be.

Lucy had decided that this was a perfect opportunity to find out more about Natsu and Happy, because any information could be useful to relay it back to Gray and Erza. And thankfully, the blue cat made it all the easier for Lucy as he rambled on about his life in Dark Sparrows. From this, Lucy had learned that it was in fact Diesel and Ruby who took care of him and Natsu when they were younger.

"So... You and Natsu grew up in your guild?"

Happy nodded, munching on his very own fish. "Yep," he said between mouthfuls. "Natsu found me when I was just an egg! We've been best pals ever since."

"Happy, you should really meet my cat, Carla. She's very nice, and I bet you two would get along great." Wendy said, her legs politely crossed. Her petite form was swallowed by one of Natsu's black hoodies, the loose top fitting her like a dress. Lucy had one of his shirts on as well, accompanied with baggy sweatpants. Happy had overheard Lucy complaining earlier that she felt dirty from not taking a bath, and he ended up throwing fresh clothes at them and insisting for them to feel at home and to use the shower.

"Carla! Even her name sounds pretty!" Happy's eyes lit up, and he hugged his fish, captivated by his own daydream.

Lucy noticed how Wendy's smile fell, and the young girl lowered her gaze with dismay. "Happy..." She started, gripping the edge of her hoodie-dress. "How did you end up in a dark guild? You don't seem like the type to be doing evil. And even Natsu... he is known to destroy towns and to burn people, but even now I'm starting to believe he is being made to do that against his will."

Happy released his hug on the fish, tilting his head. "Well, it's like what I said; Natsu found me. But for Natsu... I guess when he was a kid, Diesel and Ruby found him. We've all been a family ever since."

Lucy nodded. If her hunch was correct, then Happy was talking about the day they went back in time— July 7, x777. Her only guess was that the Dark Sparrows had got to young Natsu before Gramps did. _That has to be it._

"So... you like your guild?" Wendy asked, ever so hesitantly.

"I guess. The members there can be a bit scary, but as long as I'm with Natsu or Siren, then I know I'm safe! Did you know that they are the youngest mages in our guild to be ranked S-class?"

Lucy shivered at the name Siren. _That was the girl's name from Solona Village, wasn't it?_ She had pink hair matching Natsu, but her darker skin tone complemented his pale complexion. And when she saw them yesterday, they both sported black clothes, with piercings decorating their ears and partially shaved heads. They looked like the _cutest_ couple. Lucy felt anger bubble inside of her. Why was she even feeling this way? _It's the old Natsu I like, not this one. And I will get him back._

"Oh, okay. Just be careful, then. I wouldn't want you getting hurt again." Wendy said, her tone obviously disheartened. Lucy hadn't noticed before, but she could now see how much Wendy had come to a liking with Happy. Lucy could even see that she is opening up to Natsu as well, considering the talk they had this morning.

Speaking of Natsu, the front door unlocked. The door swiftly opened and Natsu came through, darting his eyes around the room.

"Natsu! You're back early." Happy said, smacking on his meal.

"Yeah, about that... Lucy, Wendy, you need to leave, like, now." His eyes continued to look around, and he made a beeline straight to the fireplace. He grabbed a jacket from the coat rack, and tossed it to Lucy. "Here. Put this on."

Lucy frowned, and she looked at Wendy, who had confusion drawn on her face.

"Natsu, what's this all about?" She was already to her feet, slipping the jacket over her.

Wendy soon stood up as well, her worried eyes not leaving his sight. "Did something happen?"

"It's our guilds. They've started another war." Natsu kicked the pile of blankets Lucy slept on to the corner of the room. He turned back around, meeting them in the eyes. "And what's worse? I think I caused it."

Lucy, Wendy, and Happy were frozen, their jaws dropped from the given news.

Lucy found it difficult to swallow. She would never forget that look of fear in his eyes.

Natsu broke his gaze with them, motioning to the front door. "Let's get you two back now, before things get worst. Follow me, I'll walk you out."

Lucy nodded, a firm look in her eyes. "Okay. We're right behind you."

The four of them approached the door, with Natsu in the lead.

He grabbed the doorknob, but before twisting it, he turned back to the group. "You'll might want to pull up your hoodie. I don't want anyone to recognize yo—"

Natsu was cut short, when a firm knock on the door halted him mid-sentence.

Lucy watched as all the color drained from his face, and he slowly turned his head back to the door. "Crap, no no no..."

"Who is it?" Lucy whispered, her hands on Natsu's shoulders as she craned to see through the peephole. A very large man was on the other side, with two bodyguards on each of his side.

Natsu pointed to the kitchen, his eyes stone cold. "Hide, now."

Without a moment of hesitation, Lucy grabbed Wendy's wrist and bolted to the kitchen, crouching behind the island top. Not a moment later, Natsu opened his apartment door, peering up to the large man.

"Master? What brings you here?" Lucy heard Natsu say, feigning his surprise.

The fat man bellowed a deep laugh, his voice reverberating down the apartment hallway. "Dragneel, I have much to say to you, shall I come in?"

Natsu's hesitation had only lasted a second before he smiled and opened his door. "Be my guest."

Behind the kitchen counter, Wendy's eyes had widened at the sight of the man, and his ability to squeeze past the door frame.

" _He's_ the Dark Sparrow's master?" She whispered, looking back at Lucy.

Natsu tapped on his chair's armrest in the living room, gesturing for the man to sit. He did, with the four bodyguards standing behind him, keeping an eye on the chair to see if it will keep his weight. Happy trailed after Natsu as they both sat on the bigger couch. The man scoffed when he saw the blue cat. "Huh, it's that _pungent_ bird of yours..." He stated, not in the least fond of him.

"Hello to you too, _Master_..." Happy mumbled, looking off to the side.

The man changed his focus to take a look at the house."I see you're quite the modest one when it comes to your wealth. You could easily have something _three times_ this size with your skills."

Natsu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't spend much time in my house, therefore I don't see the point in getting anything lavish." Lucy could tell his patience was ticking, although he did a good job of not showing it. "You said you wanted to tell me something...?"

"Ah, yes." The heavy man sat forward, everyone ignoring the chair creaking in protest. "It seems that you were unable to follow some orders on killing Laxus... and your attack on the guild had ultimately caused yet another war. When Laxus came to me _alive_ to tell me this, I didn't know what to feel, honestly. My greatest pawn had stepped out of the rules and brought war onto Dark Sparrows. So you tell me, Dragneel. Should I be thrilled, or angered?" The joviality in Master's voice had dropped dangerously when he finished that sentence, and he bore a menacing look at the Salamander. Natsu's lips pressed together, and his body went rigid.

Lucy shivered. _He must be a dangerous man if he has Natsu this scared._

Suddenly, the guild master smiled and began laughing. "Ha! Who am I kidding? You must love the thrill of war so much that you couldn't help but bring upon another one! I suppose that we are in for another treat." The sudden changes in direction had sent Lucy's head spinning. _Good. At least he's not angry at him_.

Natsu had just smiled as he shook his head, the deep relief in his eyes skillfully suppressed. "You know me too well, Master. You're right, I guess I couldn't help myself."

The man had let out another uproar of laughter, before looking around the room. "Now, Laxus had also told me that you took two hostages. Now, where are those two? Word had spread that they are in your house."

* * *

Natsu had _almost_ lost his cool. His eyes widened, but he bit down his lip, stopping himself from expressing too much fear. He was _totally_ going to burn whoever had told Master. "Oh, you mean the two girls I kidnapped for them to heal Happy? I had let them go just a while ago." Natsu's hand trembled, but he pressed it under his leg to keep it from showing.

Natsu knew he was stepping into dangerous territory. He was _lying_ to his guild master, after all. He stood up, looking at the clock on the wall. "Well, I say we head back to the guild and start making war preparations. What do you think?"

Master had thought for a moment, before nodding his head. "Very well. But just know, if you have hostages held captive, then next time _kill them_ , and not let them go? That is a beginner's mistake."

Natsu nodded. "Of course."

The master took a moment to push out of the chair, and he made his way towards the door.

Natsu's heart leapt, however, when he had only counted three of his mindless servants, and not four.

"Master," The fourth one monotonously stated, and Natsu found him standing in the kitchen.

He was holding onto both girls by the arms, his blank eyes staring back at Natsu's. "The hostages have been found."

Natsu knew it was over; for him, for Happy, and the girls. _That's it. I've committed treason._

Master's face became excruciatingly unreadable, to the point where Natsu wanted to vomit. The big man turned his head look at him.

"Natsu... care to explain why these two girls were _hiding_ behind your kitchen counter while you told me that they were gone?" His voice slightly shook with controlled anger, and his towering figure looked down at the dragon slayer. Lucy and Wendy had untold fear in their eyes, as they silently plead for Natsu's next words to save them.

_Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap—_

"Fine... you got me!" Natsu was surprised by how light his voice sounded, and he rolled out a laugh as he bent to his knees. "Don't be so sensitive, Master! I was only trying to have some fun." He tried to sound more like his old self, like the time when he was deeply influenced under Master's magic two years ago. _Maybe that would sell it for him._ Natsu straightened up, displaying one of his sadistic smiles on his face. "I knew you wouldn't leave these girls all by myself, so I thought I could be sneaky about it! Sucks that plan failed." Master _has_ to forgive him with this act he was pulling. That man had always loved the bloodthirsty side of Natsu whenever he got excited with inflicting pain on others, but that was something he has been seeing less of since his manipulation spell is slowly fading. _If I continue to fake this drive to kill, then maybe Master will seem proud of me and won't have to use his lost spell on me again..._

The fake act had seemed to work— Master's angered face dissolved, and he shook his head laughing. "Natsu, if you want to torture some people, then just tell me! I could give you one of my servants for you to play with."

Natsu settled for a smirk. A fake one, that is. "We could arrange that."

Master waddled into the kitchen, eyeing down Lucy and Wendy. They struggled against the bodyguard's iron grip as he approached Wendy, grabbing her by the chin. It took all of Natsu's might to not launch towards him and burn his arm off.

"Stay away from her," Lucy growled.

Master looked at Lucy and sneered. "How amusing." He said, before returning his attention back to Wendy. "I hope you two weren't giving my dear boy too much trouble." Wendy shrugged off his grip, pushing her body as far away from him as she can. Thankfully, Master lost interest, dropping her chin to look back at Natsu.

"I'd hate to break it to you, Natsu, but these girls are now prisoners of war. You can no longer have them in your house. We will have to bring them down to our guild's cells, considering how that would give us an advantage against our opponents."

The thought of having Lucy and Wendy held behind bars unnerved Natsu, and he certainly did not want any of the less empathetic members to even get _near_ those two.

But still, he didn't have a choice.

"Okay. But only under the conditions that I am their guard. I will not tolerate anyone else going to their cell." Natsu stated, desperateness slightly heard in his voice.

His master thought about his statement for a moment, and then chuckled. "Very well then. I suppose they are all yours, after all. But please, do allow me to escort them."

Natsu's relief was short-lived, when the remaining three guards marched over to Lucy and Wendy and manhandled them out of the apartment. They both squealed in protest, with Lucy's feet dragging along the tile whereas Wendy's feet didn't even touch the floor.

"WENDY-" Natsu covered his hand over Happy's mouth, stopping him from continuing his plea. Tears threatened to spill out of his best friend's cheeks, and all Natsu could do was shoot him a warning glance.

Wendy's muffled cries stabbed daggers into his heart, but he was surprised to see Lucy give him a look of unwavering tenacity. Natsu had even caught a smile on her face, right when Master turned his back towards her so that he wouldn't see.

Natsu hated this. It was his fault that Lucy and Wendy were dragged into all of this, just like how it was his fault that Dark Sparrows had now entered another war. And yet, Lucy remained strong, co _mforting him_ as she was being pulled away into a prison cell. It wasn't fair.

"Natsu," His oversized guildmaster said, placing a thick hand onto his shoulder. "Just know that I am very proud of you. If Diesel hadn't raised you like a father, then I would have gladly called you my son."

Natsu knew he had managed to crawl out of his grave today, but he didn't expect to be praised. He put on a smile, although he knew it was strained. Before meeting Lucy and Wendy, that Master's phrase would have meant a lot to him. But now, Natsu wanted nothing to do with that man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh, that chapter was short. Please leave a review!


	14. Chapter 14

Lucy barely had time to yelp before being shoved onto a cold stoned floor. She heard Wendy's terror-filled voice as she fell right next to her. Suddenly, the potato sacks over their heads were yanked off with force, gifting Lucy the ability to see again. It was those mindless servants again, and the four of them simultaneously got up and left the cell that they were thrown into, all without saying a word.

Lucy hated how it was only her second day in this alternate universe yet she has already been held captive for more than enough times.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Wendy asked, the tenderness ever in her voice.

Lucy nodded, although she didn't appreciate how their hands were tied up behind their backs once again. "I'm fine. And you?"

Wendy smiled and nodded in return. "I'm okay. I'm just grateful Natsu was able to get the guild master to spare our lives."

Lucy completely agreed. It was incredible how Natsu had stood up for them like that. If he hadn't tried hiding them and lying to his master, then she was afraid of what could've happened. But now, their goal was finding a way out of their cell. "Don't worry, Wendy. We'll soon get out of this."

Wendy weakly nodded before taking a seat on a metal bed within the cell. Lucy took this opportunity to find what was within the small vicinity given to them. There were two metal bunks pushed against opposite walls, and a sink and a bucket in the back. There was _no way_ she was going to use that. She walked over to the bars on the cell door and looked out to the room outside. It was a rather empty room, with its only furniture being located in the center. Well, furniture was a polite word for it. There was a chair with loose ropes on the floor, and a table next to it filled with tools and dried up blood. Behind it, a set of stairs was on the wall that led to a higher floor. Lucy shivered. She didn't want to think about what Dark guilds did with their prisoners. _At least Natsu was going to be our guard._

"Hey, do you think Natsu will be fine, considering that he had started another war with our guilds?" Lucy asked, sitting on the metal bed in front of Wendy.

"I don't know... It didn't seem like he was taking it all that well." Wendy replied. And suddenly, a look of fear dawned on the young girl's face. "Do you think his guild master is going to use his mind manipulation spell on Natsu again?"

Lucy's eyes widened. She didn't even think about what his cruel master would do to him now that war was back.

A light footstep was heard coming down the stairs, grabbing both of their attention. It was Natsu, and Happy was flying right by his side. Natsu was wearing his same outfit since this morning, with his black jeans and sleeveless muscle tee with golden and white dragons embroidered on his shirt. And of course, Igneel's scarf was loosely wrapped around his neck. He entered the room, his eyebrows pulled together as he looked at their current circumstances. "Girls, I am so sorry about you ending up down here. This is all my fault."

Lucy immediately shook her head. "No, it's not. You were only trying to do what was right for Happy. Don't blame yourself for how we ended up here."

Wendy nodded in agreement with the Celestial mage. "She's right, so please don't be upset about it."

"Okay, but let me at least take these rope ties off of you. There's no reason for you to have them." Natsu softly said as he made his way to them. Wendy and Lucy leaned toward the metal bars as he reached his arm into the cell, as they watched him gingerly burn off their restraints one by one.

The ropes fell to ashes on the floor, allowing Lucy to rub her tender wrists. "Thanks..."

Happy looked from the girls to Natsu. "Natsu... we can't leave them in a cell! We need to help them escape!"

Wendy's eyes widened with hope. "Do you have the keys? Maybe you can let us out!"

This pained Natsu, and Lucy watched as he lowered his head and clenched his fist. "Escaping isn't a good idea." He said, in a low voice. "Master has guards all over the place, and the members here are not what you call friendly. You will have to give me a few days for me to think of a plan and get you both out of here."

Wendy slowly nodded in understanding, before sulking back to the metal bed, disheartened. "Poor Carla... she must be terrified."

Happy's face dropped when he heard Carla's name. But not a second after, he perked right back up when a thought hit him. "Don't worry, Wendy! When you get out of here, you'll see Carla! And maybe I'll be able to meet her too!"

Wendy softened into a smile. "Yeah, Happy. You're right. There's no point of sulking now."

Natsu smirked, lifting up a pair of large keys. "And for some more good news; I am your cell keeper. So you won't have to worry about any of my _lesser_ _guild-mates_ using any other methods of cell keeping."

Natsu nodded back to the pile of weapons resting on the table in the center of the room he was in, earning a chill from Wendy and Lucy.

"Anyways, one of the keys is for your cell door, and the other is for the door up the stairs. As long as I have these keys, you won't have to worry about any unwanted visitors." Natsu hooked the keys back on his belt, before hooking off another set of keys and tossing them into their cell.

Lucy caught them, looking with awe at the silver and gold keys that Natsu took from her the day before.

"Oh, and that's your prize for being there for Happy." Natsu chuckled, before lowering his voice to a teasing whisper. "Just... don't tell anyone you have them... Master would _kill_ me if he found out."

Lucy couldn't hold her thoughts back any longer. Why was Natsu risking his reputation, his _life_ even, to help out the enemy? "Natsu... why are you being so kind to us? Doesn't this put you in danger with your guild?"

Natsu sighed, taking a seat in the chair that was usually used to tie up and interrogate prisoners of war. He looked across the table of bloody utensils to meet Lucy's and Wendy's eyes in the cell.

"Well, I guess you can say that I'm done with all this nonsense Dark Sparrows is feeding me. It's always orders to 'kill this' and 'destroy that', and now... I'm getting tired of it, to be honest. When I was younger, I would follow Diesel's orders without hesitation, because that was what I was raised to do. But now, I'm starting to realize that I want to follow my own identity. It was something two girls told me not too long ago." Natsu smirked.

Lucy smiled. It seems like their talk with Natsu that morning stuck with him throughout the day.

"So, what is that identity?" Wendy asked, genuinely curious.

Natsu let out a soft laugh. "Well, that, I'm trying to figure out."

Happy pumped his first into the air. "Well, whatever you do, Natsu, I'll be right by your side! You'll have my support any day!"

Natsu grinned, ruffling the fur on Happy's head. "Aw, thanks pal."

Natsu turned back to the girls and cocked his head, smirking. "Now, forget dark guilds. What are the morals of two girls from a legal guild?"

Lucy laughed. "What do you except? We go around saving people, and helping out those in need. It's basically the _complete opposite_ of what you're used to."

"So... does that mean you guys don't kill people?"

Wendy shot up, a fierce look in her eyes. "Of course not! Killing is a cruel thing to do, and it only brings pain and suffering."

Natsu seemed taken aback for a second, but Wendy lowered her eyes, and she spoke in a softer voice. "You must see everyone as human, because no matter if they are a bad person or not, they all have lives that they call their own, and a loved one that they live for. I've lost a loved one before, and I would hate to bring that pain upon someone else."

Natsu slowly nodded in understanding. "Huh. I guess I know that feeling too. I know this may sound crazy, but I had a dragon who took care of me before I met Diesel and the others. But he disappeared, and I haven't heard of him since."

Wendy looked up with surprise. "The same thing happened to me! I had a dragon who raised me, and she disappeared when I was younger! That's the loved one I was talking about."

Natsu's eyebrows scrunched together as he put two and two together. "Wow, so that means you're a dragon slayer too?"

"Yep! And that also is the reason I have a flying cat!"

"Wow, that's insane. I didn't know there was more out there, other than your guild master Laxus being an artificial dragon slayer."

"Oh yes, and there's another dragon slayer in my guild too. He's an iron dragon slayer."

Lucy was glad to see that Wendy and Natsu had found something in common, and she can tell that Wendy was already calming down from her worries about how Carla and Fairytail was doing.

"Oh, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I fought him back during our previous war. He's a tough guy, that's for sure—"

"Hey Natsu; you in there?" A bang was heard from the door upstairs, averting everyone's attention to it. Some fear had risen back up in Wendy's eyes, and Lucy put a reassuring hand on her.

"Shoot... I'll have to get back to you guys. It looks like someone wants me." Natsu pushed off the wooden chair and took off.

"Wait!" Wendy yelped. "W-When are you coming back?"

Natsu smiled slightly. "Don't worry, I'll be the one in charge of bringing in your food, so expect me to be dropping by every few hours. Come on, Happy." And with that said, Natsu ran up the stairs with Happy and left the room.

Natsu slid out of the door from the basement, which led out to a dark hallway that opened up to the guildhall. No one else usually came down these halls, since there are only doors that led to other prison cells with long-forgotten prisoners.

And that's why it made Natsu all the more surprised to see Seph and Diesel standing in the hallway in front of the door.

"Hey, it's Happy! I'm glad to see you're looking better!" Seph cheered, pulling the cat in to mess with his fur.

Happy rushed in to give Seph a teary hug. "Thanks, Uncle Seph! Natsu said that you were the one who suggested getting a healing mage from FT!"

"No problem. She sure did fix you up fast, though. She must be pretty powerful to bring you back looking brand new."

"Yeah! Right Natsu?"

Natsu smiled and nodded, locking the door to the basement. "Definitely. We should get our own healer for Dark Sparrows one of these days. Our current one is rotten old."

Diesel smirked, hooking his arm over Natsu's shoulders as they turned and walked towards the guildhall. "What are you talking about, Natsu? You picked us up a very nice healer on your own." He leaned in close to Natsu and teasingly whispered into his ear. "Is she cute? I say we keep her."

Natsu immediately became disinterested in this conversation. Disgusted, even. "She's like _twelve,_ Diesel. And what are you, forty?"

"I'm 35, you pipsqueak!"

Natsu continued speaking, barely noticing how Diesel had changed his arm position to a vise-like headlock around his neck. "And also, she is a prisoner of war. She's going right back where she came from once all of this is over."

"But that's the thing!" Seph chimed in, excited. "We're winning this thing, _again_. And you know what that means? _We get to take what we want._ "

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Can you guys not sound any more perverted?"

Diesel chuckled. "That's not what we mean, Natsu. Look. Sorry I lost my cool on you earlier today. But hey; let me make it up to you. Wanna head to a casino tonight? Ruby dear and Siren are gonna be there."

The sound of relaxing with his friends sounded like a vacation well needed. However, it didn't sound right for him to leave Lucy and Wendy alone in the cell while he was out partying. "Hmm... I don't know. I'm on guard duty."

"Oh come onnnnn~ It's time for a celebration! You gotta just relax a little, m'kay? We're living in great times right now. And plus, we can always get another guard for those ladies." Seph pleaded, swaying to Diesel for support. Natsu could already smell the booze from Seph.

Natsu rolled his eyes and laughed, watching Diesel shove Seph off of him. "Alright, alright! I'll go, you crazy drunkard." He decided that a night out wouldn't hurt anyone.

_But there was no way he was going to let those girls see the face of another guard._

"And don't worry about finding someone else to take my job. Happy, mind keeping watch of the prisoners?"

"Aye, sir!"

Natsu tossed the cell keys to Happy, and the blue cat saluted in return.

* * *

It was the late afternoon, and Natsu didn't feel much of the need to change his clothes for the occasion. He always found comfort in wearing Igneel's scarf over a black outfit. Also, since this was a casino for dark mages, he didn't have to worry about hiding his identity. When he arrived at the casino, he was thankful to see that Siren sported her usual attire as well: her favorite crop top and a pair of ripped leggings. Ruby, of course, decided to go all out with her attire, wearing a long red dress and flashy makeup. She was sitting at a poker table, her red lips pursed as she fumbled with the edge of her playing cards. Diesel and Seph were behind her wearing black tuxedoes, equally engrossed in the game as well.

Natsu rolled his eyes at the sight of them, before joining Siren at the bar. They both were in their early 20's, yet they lacked interest in the adult life at the casino. Ruby loves to go every so often to win some cash, and she always makes it a big trip out of it and drags everyone along. Once they're there, however, Siren and Natsu are left to hang around the bar or people watch.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it." Siren said, one eyebrow cocked playfully.

Natsu gave her a smug face. "I had a hard time deciding on what to wear." He said, Siren fully aware that he didn't bother changing. He sat next to her and tapped on the counter, grabbing the attention of the bartender. "I'll take a Dragon fire's drink."

The bartender whipped up his beverage, igniting a flame on top of it before setting the drink before him. "Make sure to take the fire out before you drink it." He winked, before walking away.

Siren turned to face Natsu, her elbow propped on the counter. "Hey, I never got to check up on you after you took off earlier today. Are you doing okay?"

Natsu nodded, his eyes adverting onto his flaming drink. "Yeah, don't worry about that. I was just feeling sick."

"Huh. Alright." She slumped back into her seat, resignedly taking a sip of her own glass.

Natsu knew Siren wasn't happy about his kidnapping scheme, and he wasn't able to talk to her about it since it all started two nights ago. He decided that there was no better time than now to get it out of the way. "Are you... mad at me?"

That caught Siren off guard. She paused from drinking as her eyes fell onto Natsu. "Why would you say that?"

Natsu distractedly swirled a finger over the flames in his beverage. It took him a lot more effort than he'd like to admit to take his eyes off of his drink and to look at her. _Does she not know what I'm talking about?_ "I had two girls at my house, of course. Why wouldn't my girlfriend be mad?"

"You said it yourself that just used them for Happy. So why would I be?"

Natsu sighed in relief. It seemed like there was nothing to worry about. "Okay, just making sure."

Silence fell between the two, and Natsu could hear the uproar of a distant game table and a man yelling jackpot. He was thankful for his ability to tune in and out of background noises, because his dragon hearing made it difficult for him to be in public places. He slowly took a sip from his flaming cup, completely forgetting about the advice from the bartender. A few strangers looked his way, bewildered.

Siren broke the silence with a soft laughter, earning a raised eyebrow from Natsu. "And what do you think is so funny?"

She shook her head with a smile as she looked at Natsu. "Nothing. It's just that you've changed so much from the day we first met."

"I'd really hope so. We were like what? Ten?"

"Yes, and you were the most dense, hotheaded, immature brat I've ever encounter. But now, you're so calm and collected. And a crybaby, if you haven't noticed."

"Woah, hold it right there. A crybaby? Where'd you get that from?" Natsu laughed, not knowing if he should be offended or amused.

"You're always worried about other people's feelings, and it makes you such a softy. I guess that part about you hasn't changed from when we were kids, though."

"And you've always been the blunt one." Natsu murmured before finishing his drink. He could vividly recall that day he first ran into her. He was doing a mission with Ruby, Diesel, and Seph when they raided her town. And they probably would've left her too, if it wasn't for her blunt personality...

_"Hey! You have the same hair as me."_

_Natsu turned around, catching sight of the girl behind him. She had big pink curls that sat on her head like an afro, and she didn't seem to be any older than the age Natsu was._

_But Natsu had shoes on. And she didn't._

_The girl's clothes were tattered, and she had dirt and soot smudged on her face. Well, Natsu knew where the soot came from. It was probably from the smoke from his fire that burned throughout the village.  
_

_"You live here?" Natsu asked, a bit embarrassed to be talking to one of the residents of the town he was burning.  
_

_The girl nodded, before putting on a big smile. "Yes, and I believe you are burning it."_

_Natsu swallowed, feeling slightly intimidated. "Well, i-it's too bad! I'm apart of a dark guild, and this is something that I have to do!"_

_He has only been apart of the Dark Sparrows for a few months, and he had accustomed himself to seeing the young mages that took him as his parents, and with Seph like his uncle of course. But, they never told him what to do if he encountered a girl his age! What does he do? Burn her? Run away?_

_"Let me join you! It sounds like fun."_

_Natsu blinked owlishly at the girl. Did he hear her correctly?_

_But there was no denying to what she said once he saw the fierceness in her eyes._

_"And why should I do that?" He asked, clutching tighter to the bags of money and precious goods in his hands. She must have something to contribute if she wanted to hang with them._

_"I don't know. We should be friends because... we both have pink hair!"  
_

_Natsu twitched at her insult. "HEY! MY HAIR IS SALMON, NOT PINK—"  
_

_"And also..." She held up her hand, and a purple magic circle floated above her palm. She moved her eyes to a running villager, and whispered, "Sleep Magic: Dream Knock." Suddenly, the man started slowing down into sluggish steps, before slumping onto the floor. "...I'll be able to help." She said, a devilish smirk settling on her face.  
_

_Natsu's eyes widened in awe. Never before has he seen something more cool. Well, besides his dragon Igneel of course. He handed her one of the money bags. "Okay, okay. Follow me."_

_Natsu grabbed the girl's hand before chasing off to the ones he called family. Ruby and Diesel were bagging valuable goods from the mayor's hall, as Seph held the mayor and some other important people captive.  
_

_Natsu skid into the grand room with Siren after him, carrying his share of the loot. Seph paused up from his torrent of threats to the mayor and smirked at the sight of him and the newcomer. "Hey, squirt. Who's the girl?"_

_Diesel disappointedly shook his head as he slipped a large painting into his sack. "How many times do you tell you that these missions are not playgrounds, Natsu? You can't go around making friends."_

_"HEY, LET'S KEEP HER! SHE'S REALLY POWERFUL!"_

_Ruby dropped her sack to tend to the needy fire-breathing child. "Natsu... we keep pets, not people. Only unless they are prisoners or hostages."  
_

_"But you took me in! Why can't we do the same for her? We're the same age! And we have the same hair color!"_

_"So because of that, we need to 'keep' her?" Diesel asked with a chuckle. "Natsu, we're not just some adoption system, we don't just go around collecting kids."  
_

_"Oh Diesel, let's at least give her a chance." Ruby kneeled in front of the curly head girl. "My, you're gorgeous. And according to Natsu, you must be a powerful one too. What is it that you can do, sweetheart?  
_

_The girl puffed her chest and grinned. "My magic can make people fall asleep!"_

_Diesel rubbed his chin, intrigued. "I guess that is pretty good... It can be pretty helpful too. But why do you want to join a dark guild?"_

_The girl averted her eyes to the floor, twisting her toe nervously. "I don't have any parents, and the folks here are all scared of me..." And not a moment later, she shot her head back up, determination in her eyes._

_"So that's why you gotta take me with you! I can be really useful!"_

_Seph laughed. "The kids' right. Sleeping magic is no joke, and that can be great to get around with. Got a name?"_

_"It's Siren!"_

* * *

Natsu laughed as he tucked those memories away. Has it really already been over 10 years? "We were such a pair."

"And we still are..." Siren added, hooking her arm within Natsu's. She pulled closed to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Did you forget that we are inseparable?"

Natsu leaned into her embrace, their small beverages long forgotten.

"What did we call ourselves? The pink twins?" Siren snickered.

A vein popped out of Natsu's forehead. "Never... speak of that name out loud..."

"Hey!" Siren was chuckling so hard that she had to gasp for air. "It was Happy's idea..."

Something stroked down Natsu's arm, and he looked back to see Ruby holding a wad of money. "Another win, baby." Natsu golf clapped as Ruby took a seat on the bar next to them, with Diesel and Seph following right after.

"It's as expected, coming from our gambling queen." Seph simply stated, as if her victory was forecasted by the weatherman.

"Congratulations. Now are you going to split the cash or what?"

"It's none of your concern..." Ruby said, slipping the cash into her purse.

As the older adults ordered their hardcore drinks, Siren remained holding onto Natsu. "Just one thing." She whispered, her eyes looking off to nowhere in particular. "Just be careful when you're guarding those FT mages. It's just... we're getting into war, and we all need to be focused. Do you really have to babysit them?"

Natsu didn't really know what to say. "Keeping them captive is essential to having an upper hand to this war, Ren." Natsu assured her. "And that's why I want to be the one who watches over them."

Of course it was going to be him watching over them. He wasn't going to give anyone else that job.

"Sure, okay..." Siren placed her hand on his cheek, and her voice became muffled as she pressed her lips against his. Natsu smiled before kissing her back, and his fingers tucking her long, curly pink hair behind her ear. "We're the pink twins, huh? We'll might have to change that since we're dating..."

Siren breathed a soft laugh, both hands resting on his shoulders. "Okay Mister _My-hair's-salmon-not-pink_. It's your turn to find a name."

Natsu chuckled and shook his head, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "I'll have to think about it..."

And with his Dragon hearing, Natsu could hear Seph mumbling under his breath. "Ugh... get a room you two..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it... Siren's backstory on how they met! And I want to make it clear that Siren and Natsu were raised by Ruby and Diesel, they they consider them their parents, even though they are only in their mid-thirties.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! I finally wrote a chapter that's over 5000 words. What an achievement.

It's been a few days since Lucy and Wendy have been kidnapped, and Erza couldn't sit around any longer. Mira had begged her and Gray not to run after them without Laxus being completely healed, but since Fairy Tail's own healer was no longer with them, their guildmaster's healing process had slowed down to a crawl.

"The only one that is capable of defeating the Salamander is Laxus." Mira pleaded. "We must save our chances of getting Lucy and Wendy out alive, and we don't want to risk anything. Once Laxus is healed, we will charge into their guild and attack. From there, you two and a group of others will be in charge of finding our guildmates and escaping."

Erza shook her head, dismayed. She heard these plans play from Mira's mouth countless of times, but she had still found no point in waiting. "But we don't know what the Dark Sparrows could be doing to them at this moment... They could be in deep trouble and calling for our help as we speak."

Gray was sitting right beside Erza in their guild's bar. He couldn't shake off this feeling of fear towards their safety as well. "Erza has a point, you know."

Yet again, Mira refused to give in. "We have Porlyusica healing our guildmaster, so Laxus will be healed soon. Right now, I need both of you here on guard in case the Dark Sparrows attack."

Gray huffed, but he didn't protest. The two of them had taken this time to research even harder about time traveling, now that it seemed Lucy and Wendy's lives were in danger. If only they could time travel to the past now to make things right, but they didn't want to do it without Lucy, in fear of the possibilities of what could happen without her being there. Also, they weren't sure if they needed the Natsu of this time period to go back with them as well, but they could only hope that wasn't the case. This Natsu was only bad news, and Gray had a feeling he wouldn't come with them without a fight.

So, the best option was to wait, and hope that Mira's plan would work.

* * *

Ruby twisted the doorknob to the basement cell, and she wasn't surprised to find it locked.

It has been locked from the entire guild for an entire week now, with only Natsu and Happy being the ones to enter and exit. The two of them would sneak down there early in the morning holding the prisoner's trays of food, and they wouldn't come out until hours later, which was only to bring the next food tray in.

Ruby originally didn't mind his side job at first, giving him the benefit of the doubt that being a guard keeper was just very time-consuming. But then, she was starting to realize how his behavior had began to change. He became more outspoken on things he didn't agree with, which caused controversy with basically _everything_ in the dark guild. If they had to kill someone, he would flat out disagree, or passive-aggressively express his opinion. She would sometimes hear him grumbling as he trudged out of Master's office after he was called in there to discuss his next plan of action for the war. And whenever they invited him on missions, he would dodge the invitation, claiming that he had guard duty to do.

Siren was already fed up with Natsu's current behavior, and she made her thoughts known every chance that she saw him. And Diesel... his mood dropped considerably due to Natsu's misbehavior, complaining that the dragon slayer had gone back to his "rebellious" teenage years.

But for Ruby... she knew exactly what was going on. Although she had never seen these fairy tail girls before, she could tell that Natsu and Happy had found a liking to them. The two of them enjoyed their presence.

But, that's where things go wrong. You can't make friends with the enemy.

Natsu was making a mistake, and Ruby was about to see all the consequences of him breaking this taboo.

The Dark Sparrows were against Fairytail for a reason. They were a dark guild, with every member being equipped with the mindset of gaining control and power. Fairytail, on the other hand, was a legal guild that aspired to bring peace and safety onto Magnolia. If Natsu hung out too often with members from the opposing side, then this could ultimately change his viewpoint with the war. And who knows what these girls were saying to him? They could be purposely manipulating their strongest mage in Dark Sparrows in order to infiltrate their guild and cause disruption within it.

And Natsu has been so confused already with his position whenever it comes to war, which had ultimately made their guild master place his magic spells on him two years ago in the first place. Before that time, he had made the mistake of telling everyone that he refused to kill in the war, and that gave Master no other choice than to change his mindset. If that hadn't been done, we would have most definitely lost to Fairytail.

Now, war was coming again, and she was afraid that Natsu was falling back to that weakened mindset. And with these prisoners, she knew that they would only make things more difficult. That's the reason why Ruby fiddled with the lock with two bobby pins, satisfied to feel an inaudible click as the door unlocked to the basement cell. She could only hope that Natsu didn't hear the noise with his heightened senses. She peeked her head through the door to the point where she could see inside, mindful that if she made any subtle moves, then Natsu surely would've heard her standing by the doorway.

All she wanted was to hear what kind of atrocities these prisoners were feeding him, to see what opponents they were dealing with, before she could go off and tell Diesel about her findings, and possibly get Natsu out of that guard job before any damage was done.

But Ruby's breath stopped at the sight before her.

Although Natsu's back was facing her, she could see his shoulders shake in joviality as he gave out the purest laugh. It was one that sounded stress-free... as if at that moment, all the chains and burdens he carried as a dark mage had no weight on him. She never thought that Natsu could ever sound so relaxed... not when she always saw the silent pain in his eyes after knowing that he had murdered someone during a mission, or that ever-present fear within him that reminded himself he had the power of a monster.

He was bent over, one elbow on his knees and the other on the table, before looking back up to make some cunning remark.

"So Gajeel really tied them up to a tree? I guess that's one way to declare war." Natsu said to the girls, and Happy nodded in agreement.

"Aye! With the amount of stories you have, it seems like your guild has fallen into far more trouble than ours ever have!"

Ruby watched the blonde mage grab Happy through the metal bars and shake him relentlessly. "Disrespect our guild one more time and you'll be getting it, Happy!"

Once again, Natsu broke down laughing.

Ruby looked at the younger, blue-head girl in the cell, who was eating chocolate, and she could barely hear her soft voice as she spoke from where she was standing. "Lucy, Happy wasn't disrespecting our guild! He's just amazed at the amount of trouble we get in!"

"Don't tell me you're agreeing with him, Wendy!"

Chocolate? Where did she get that from? Ruby's eyes trailed onto the tray Natsu brought it, surprised to find candy and sweets stuffed underneath the plastic plates and cups. And if she looked hard enough, Ruby noticed other hidden items that typically don't belong in a prisoner's cell. A hairbrush was tucked under the blonde girl's pillow, and a pair of toothbrushes were sitting on the sink. There was even nail polish on one of the girl's beds. Did Natsu go and get these for them?

Then, all at once, everything seemed to click together. Natsu did make friends with the enemy, but it wasn't like they were any threats to the Dark Sparrows. And they weren't purposely intending to feed him any thoughts to confuse him and his values as a dark mage. They were just two girls that Natsu enjoyed talking to, and their values were possibly something he agreed with when compared to the torrent of standards he grew up following as a Dark Sparrow member.

Sure, having them here was a major distraction to their focus in the war, especially if they were encouraging Natsu to rebel against Dark Sparrows, but Ruby couldn't take her eyes off of his peaceful stature. The explosive-make mage felt a maternal pang in her heart. She thought Natsu deserved to be happy, but it disheartened her that it had to be in the forbidden way. However, she supposed that she had suspected this all along. Ever since she first met Natsu, back when he was only a little lost boy, he always had the sentiments of a soft heart. Although he loved destruction and thievery, he silently hated harm and death. And what he received from these girls was bittersweet. He was receiving the happiness he wanted, but that led to the pushing away of his own guild. Of course, being a dark mage, he can't have both.

Ruby quietly closed the door, unable to make that decision for him.

* * *

The next day, Natsu finally agreed to go out on a mission.

Diesel didn't know if it was because of the constant threats he gave him of no longer feeding him dinner, or perhaps the dragon slayer finally became bored from being cooped up as a guard.

Natsu sure did seem adamant on avoiding missions these past couple days though, especially since he had enough money to go without them. But, even with all the money Natsu had, he still never cooked for himself, so Diesel found that stopping him from joining them for dinner would be enough encouragement for him to go on a mission.

Diesel had even let Natsu choose the mission, which was a high-paying job of intercepting a noble's caravan on it's way to Crocus. The caravan was going to a fancy ball at the castle to give some lavish gifts to the princess. As Diesel read the request, he smirked. There was no better mission for their team.

The sun lazily sunk behind the city of Crocus as darkness enveloped the sky. The Dark Sparrows filtered out of the train along with the bustling crowd, before regrouping under a lamppost that flickered on.

"Our source had told us that the caravan will be reaching the city within an hour. The best place to carry out this mission will be before they enter Crocus so that we can have an advantage point." Diesel said, glancing at each of his team members to check if they were paying attention. They all nodded in unison.

"Okay. Let's move now then so we can have time to set up."

And so they left, weaving their way between the crowds of wandering civilians. Diesel noticed how ridiculously crowded it was in the city, and how music, lights, and laughter blared through the streets from every corner.

"What is this? Some festival..." Seph moaned, right after declining a vendor who rushed up to him to advertise some flags and bracelets.

Siren took a closer look at the merchandise. Pictures of Princess Hisui's face were adorned on most of the items. "It must be that Princess's birthday. All of the merchandise is of her." In fact, even the streets were decorated in green and her name was seen on every banner.

"Well, that explains the party our targets are going to," Ruby reasoned.

"Too bad they have no clue what's coming to them." Seph snickered.

Natsu shoved past them, clearly tempered. "Let's just get this over with, okay?"

Siren cocked an eyebrow at Natsu. Ruby looked at Seph, who could only shrug in response. Natsu had seemed on edge the entire day, ever since he agreed on joining the mission. Diesel sighed. He could only guess what was going on in that head of his.

They finally approached the designated road that the caravan was said to be on, and followed it out of the city as the buildings became scarcer and the night grew darker. Finally, the road led them to the outskirts of Crocus and met with a bridge over a wide river. Past the bridge, the road continued as a dirt path that cut through green pastures. Houses and farms littered the area, with miles of grass and trees making the distance between each house. There was a thicket of trees off the side of the road, creating an ideal hiding place for the skilled thieves.

"What a perfect place to commit a crime!" Siren laughed. "There's no one out here for miles!"

Diesel made his way to the trees, with his crew following close in pursuit. "Remember, we will attack before they cross the bridge. "Siren, Seph, you're stopping the caravan. Natsu, Ruby, you're in charge of stealing the goods. I'll deal with the nobles."

Once again, everyone nodded at the orders, and then rested on the trees as they waited for the caravan.

Diesel, with his arms crossed and back resting against a tree, was just starting to doze off when Ruby tapped on his shoulder. "They're here," She whispered, looking off at something in the distance.

Diesel peeked an eye open to see Siren stretching, with Natsu and Seph waiting impatiently for them to get started.

"Alright, alright. Let's do this."

The sky was black and speckled with stars. Within the night, a caravan was seen a little over two miles away, but it was definitely the target they were waiting for. It matched the description perfectly. The spacious vehicle was deep red with gold embellishment, and a large white horse trotted in front of it.

Yep, definitely a noble caravan.

Seph was bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet shaking his wrists. Even Natsu's tense mood seemed to have lifted a little bit, as the adrenaline of their mission was bringing to kick in. Diesel couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight of his family prepping into battle.

His whole gang was finally back together.

"Siren, Seph, it's time for your roles." Diesel directed, and they both cracked a smile in response.

"Finally, it took long enough... We'll see you guys in a bit." Seph placed his hand over Siren's shoulder, and they both teleported into the scene.

The rest of the group watched as the caravan drew closer. Suddenly, the horse squealed and nayed, now heeding the commands of Seph, who was the one holding the whip.

Diesel spotted Siren and an asleep coach driver sitting next to Seph, as Siren finished casting her sleeping magic over the poor man.

"Okay, let's go!" Diesel shouted, and he, Ruby and Natsu dashed their way out of the woods. Seph slowed the horse into a trot before making her halt in front of the rest of the Dark Sparrows.

A round, red face poked his head through the velvet curtains of the caravan, obviously tempered by the sudden stop. "Driver, I said no bathroom breaks until we--" His voice trailed off as he looked at the set of mages standing around the caravan, looking at him with devious smiles.

The noble's eyes widened. "Wh-what is the meaning of this?"

"What do you think? You're getting robbed, old man!" Seph cackled, his head peering from the front of the caravan, comfortably slouched in the driver's seat.

The stout man gasped -- it was almost comical the way he did -- and tucked his head back into the curtains. Another voice could be heard in the caravan, a softer, shakier voice that questioned what was going on. "What do you think is going on?!" The older man cried. "There are bandits at our doorsteps! You, boy! Go out and tell them to leave." And then, the door swung open and out fell a scrawny kid, looking no older than 18, flat on his face and trembling on the ground. He got up, and looked at all of their faces. "L-Lord Busquet wishes for you all to l-leave." He pleaded, his hands held out before him in a weak defense as he tried to hide his face. It reminded Diesel of a trembling dog who knew he was going to get kicked.

Diesel slid out a knife from his pants leg, pointing it to the boy. "All we ask for is your money and gifts for the princess." He asked nicely. He might as well give him a false sense of sincerity. "If you comply, then you and that pinhead may keep your lives."

If it was even possible, the boy shrunk even smaller under the threat of his knife. "Of-of course. I will see what he could do." The boy hurriedly backed up into the caravan and further hushed whisperings could be heard.

Diesel rolled his eyes. This was taking too long. "I'm tired of this. Seph, teleport them out. Ruby, Natsu, you can start unloading the van." Seph disappeared from the driver's seat, and after hearing two surprised yelps from inside the caravan, Seph reappeared in front of the group with new hostages. "They're all yours." Seph said, shoving them to the ground.

Natsu and Ruby had already gone to work raiding the vehicle. The dragon slayer opened a chest that revealed golden vases and plates, and Ruby had laid her eyes on some exquisite jewelry. As they hauled everything out, Diesel held his ground in front of the hostages, his knife still extended out. Finally, Ruby popped her head out of the van, giving a thumbs-up. "I think that's everything!"

Diesel made a small noise of approval. Things ended up going smoothly, which is to be expected with these simple missions.

Siren sauntered up behind Diesel and peered over his shoulder, looking at the fearful hostages. The boy had tears streaming down his cheeks, and the older man's mouth was agape as he watched his caravan get robbed.

"So... are we going to kill them, or what?" She asked playfully, as she curled her hair with one finger.

Diesel pondered on that for a moment, before coming up with his answer. "I suppose we could kill them. I mean, we might as well, since we came this far."

Ruby laughed. "Oh Diesel, I always wondered why I married a man like you. You're too cruel for your own good."

Seph slumped back onto the driver's seat, next to the sleeping coachman. "Just don't take too long, okay? We can put their bodies back in the caravan and steer their van off that bridge. It'll look like it was all an accident."

The boy went on his knees, his hands clasped as he shook his head feverishly, "Pl-please no sir, we did what you asked, please, let us go..."

Diesel's smile took a malicious curl. "I suppose I could, but what could be the fun in that?" Ah, there's nothing better to have others at your mercy! And is it my lucky day? We even have a beggar.

But then, Natsu stepped forward, cutting him away from his thoughts and the light-hearted atmosphere with a thick knife of tension. "Hey Diesel, we got what we came for. Let's just forget about them and go." He half-whispered, his eyes averted to the ground.

And at that moment, everyone looked at him.

Seph, Ruby, Diesel, Siren, and even the two hostages looked at him.

"'Forget them and go?' Now, why would we do that?" Diesel asked slowly. "You know we never leave missions without tying up loose ends." He gestured with his knife to the two quivering humans on the ground.

"It's like I said; we got all the money. There are no loose ends with that."

Diesel shook his head. "I think it's you who needs to loosen up, Natsu. So stop being a wuss and man up for a change." He hissed the last part, before turning back to the hostages. Diesel crouched down to be eye-level with them, his knife still pointing at their faces. It reminded him of the time when he first met Natsu. It maddened him to think that the dragon slayer was still acting like a child.

"So, who do you want to go first, Busquet? You, or this kid?" Diesel asked, his knife pointing at each of them respectively.

"Kill him, take his life!! Just spare MINE!" The man sobbed. He cowered in fear by covering his face, and the boy could only look at him with inept horror.

"L-Lord Busquet!" The boy whimpered. "What are you talking about? Do you not care about my life?"

The nobleman turned to the boy, rage evident in his eyes. "Of course not, you fool! You are only a servant! Your life should be to serve me! You should be gladly jumping forward to give your life!"

Diesel rolled his eyes. The hate he had for this man was only increasing. "What a rotten bastard. You know what? Just because of that, I'm only killing you."

Diesel pulled his hand back, clutching on the knife, and smirked with pleasure as he watched the man's eyes widened in horror. He then thrusted the weapon forward, towards Busquet's heart.

And nothing happened.

It was only his fist that pounded on Busquet's chest.

Diesel looked at his hands to find it empty. The knife wasn't there.

He slowly turned his head to Natsu, who was standing right next to him, the same knife now in his hands.

"I said no killing." Natsu spat, flinging the weapon to the ground.

Diesel, _excruciatingly_ slow, got up to face the fire mage. He cocked his head, and a dangerous smile was played on his face. "Excuse me?"

Seph looked at Ruby and Siren, who both looked equally fearful of the tension that wrung in the air. They've seen Diesel and Natsu argue before, but it had never felt like this. Not with the murderous intent in the air, that Seph no longer knew who it belonged to anymore. Seph decided to take matters into his own hands, and he cautiously made his way to Diesel before things could escalate. "Break it up, you two. No reason to start a fight."

"Oh no," Diesel started, slowly walking towards Natsu, looking straight in his eyes. "This kid doesn't need a fight-- what he just needs is to get something straight." He bent down to pick up his knife, before sheathing it back into his pants pocket. "Don't get all cocky on me since Master worships you and gives you what you want. I raised you, so you should know not to tell me what to do with that tongue of yours." His voice was low and threatening, and his words came out like venom. It was enough to make the hostages quiver at the conflict rising before them.

And as if to get his point across, Diesel uppercutted Natsu, launching his fist straight up his stomach. Natsu's eyes widened in surprise on the impact. He doubled over, gasping in pain.

And with that, Diesel seemed satisfied. He turned around, done with Natsu's behavior.

The dragon slayer looked up. He wiped his chin, leaving a smear of blood. "No one punches me and walks away with it." He grumbled. He ignited his hand in flames and sprinted towards Diesel.

As if he anticipated Natsu's reaction, Diesel turned back around to face the dragon slayer, sliding the knife back out his pants leg in record timing.

Ruby looked at Seph in fear. Things have never escalated this far. " _Do something._ "

Diesel thrashed out his weapon, and Natsu swung out his flame-covered fist, but under the blink of an eye, Seph teleported behind Natsu and grabbed him, before teleporting him several feet away from Diesel. The two attacked the air before either of them realizing what Seph had done, with Natsu losing balance from the sudden change of position.

"Now that's enough, both of you!" Ruby shouted, her stern gaze looking between both of them. The two men both halted immediately, looking at Ruby with agitated looks. "We're family." She continued, her voice slightly wavering. "All we have is each other. We don't fight, we support one another. So quit this act right now."

Siren stepped forward, gesturing to the spot where the hostages used to be. "Great. During your fight, the two escaped. Just let Diesel kill them next time, Natsu."

Natsu extinguished the flame on his hand and shoved his hands into pockets, and he and Diesel looked in the direction where their hostages were running away. They had already made it past the bridge; the scrawny boy was motioning for the older man to hurry as they stumbled and tripped towards the city.

Diesel flipped the knife he had in one hand, before reeling the weapon over his shoulder and aiming at the retreating people. He flung the knife, and in a perfect arch, it closed the distance between them and their targets, before lodging straight into the back of the nobleman's skull. The color in Natsu slowly drained from his face, as he watched the man crumple to the ground.

"Okay, _now_ I'm satisfied. Let's go." Diesel concluded, rolling his shoulders to relieve some tension.

Natsu's eyes hardened to a cold stare. "They were retreating! How could you..."

Diesel acted like he was pondering for a little, trying to search for a reason as to why he had killed the man. "I dunno. Because it's funny?"

Natsu clenched his fist as he made his way towards Diesel, a scowl fixated on his face. "You--"

Seph grabbed Natsu's shoulder, stopping him from going any further. "What's up with you, man? You've never been this pent up about Diesel killing someone."

"Yeah, and that man was a snobby pig anyways." Siren added, crossing her arms. "Why do you care so much for his life?"

Natsu shoved off Seph's grip on his shoulder, before exaggeratedly gesturing to the dead man. Anger lit his eyes, and the scowl on his face deepened. "It's because he was human! He had a soul, and a family, just like you and me! Why can't anyone understand that?!"

Everyone looked dumbfounded. They stared at Natsu, with a face of disbelief.

Diesel walked towards the angered dragon slayer and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. The man looked beyond infuriating, and the heat in his eyes could rival with Natsu's secret art flames. "Natsu, would look at yourself? You're sounding like a freaking coward. It's disgusting." He seethed these words, before shoving Natsu, hard enough for him to fall to the ground. His next words came out less intensely, but there was no mistake hearing the disappointment laced in his voice.

"You better fix this act of yours, because I know I raised you better than to be like this." And with that, he turned and walked away.

The rest of his group looked at him for a moment longer, before turning to walk with Diesel.

* * *

The whole train ride back to Magnolia was long and strenuous, without anyone saying much, even as Natsu slept to fend off his motion sickness. By the time they arrived, it was well past midnight, and Natsu and Seph had long left to go back to their homes.

Siren was slouched on the couch in her pajamas, her legs propped up on Ruby's lap, careful not to kick the hot cup of tea in her mother's hands.

"I'm telling you," Siren started, as she tried to braid her pink curly hair into two french braids, "it's those girls he's been hanging out with!" And suddenly, she stopped her braiding and sat up with intensity. "You know what? I bet he's with them now!"

Ruby lazily glanced at Siren as she slipped her tea. "Ren, you know that all he does is guard their cell."

Siren exaggeratedly plopped back against the couch, outstretching her legs into Ruby's laps again, as the older woman lifted up her teacup to give room for her feet.

"Come on, Ruby! You've got to have noticed that something's up. Ever since he met them, he's been acting different! And did you hear what he said today? He didn't want Diesel to kill that rat because 'he's human!' Just how pathetic was that? It's obvious those girls are messing with his head."

Ruby shook her head. She was in no position to say that Natsu didn't deserve those girls, not when she saw him so happy that morning. But still, there was no denying the fact of how much influence he's received from them. But even with their influence, Ruby couldn't help but think that there was more to it. She remembered Natsu saying something similar about valuing human lives 14 years ago, when he first saw Diesel kill someone. This was when he was only with them for a few weeks, and he still had those good morals of whoever raised him. If anything, these fairytail mages aren't just giving him these ideas, but they are giving him the confidence to fight back a little, to resurface these childhood morals, and to be himself. Ruby looked away from Siren, taking another long sip of her tea. It was best to keep these thoughts to herself.

Diesel was sitting in an armchair beside them, flipping through a novel. Ruby was starting to think that he wasn't listening to their conversation at all, when he suddenly closed his book and set it down on the coffee table.

"Ren's right, you know. And in fact, I've decided to go to Master and talk about it to him."

This was what caught both Siren and Ruby's by surprise. They looked at Diesel with wide eyes, but before they could say anything, he continued. "Natsu shouldn't be around those prisoners anymore if they are making him weaker."

Ruby didn't know what to say. She certainly didn't expect Diesel to bring Master into this.

"You're getting Master involved? What for?" She asked, hesitantly.

"Well, how else are we going to get him to listen?" Diesel questioned rather simply.

Ruby supposed she couldn't argue on that one. Natsu can be very stubborn, and sometimes no one but the guild master himself could put a limit on him. But at the same time, Ruby found this extremely unnecessary. Master could take things into... _extreme_ measures if he found out that one of his mages was getting sidetracked, let alone one of his best members. There must be another way to get through to him. "I could talk to him. Maybe I could put some sense into his head."

Siren shook her head. "I don't think that's going to work. And anyways, we can't go easy on him anymore. He needs to wake up and see that we are at war, and these things shouldn't be taken lightly."

"But... You know what Master'll do to him... right?" The answer was obvious. It might as well have been painted on the walls. If they get Master involved, he is going to want to use his magic on Natsu again, like what he did two years ago for the last war. It was devastating to Ruby at how depressed that made Natsu become, on being someone he wasn't, but, the others will never see it that way. All it was to them was a "renewing" to his killing drive.

"Yeah. So what? It's exactly what he needs. If you'd asked me, Master should have done it the moment Natsu started slipping." Diesel stated, a little too bluntly for Ruby's liking. He had never noticed how much that spell had affected Natsu. "So, are you in, Rube?"

Ruby sighed. It didn't look like she was winning this one. Not when Natsu slipped up today, and not since they are back in war. They needed him to be on his A-game...

"Honestly, I don't think I have a choice."

Diesel's face softened to a smile. At least he knew how much this pained Ruby. She just wished he knew how much it pained Natsu.

"Thank you, dear. After we talk to Master, we're going to get Natsu, and you know that you're the only person that he ever listens to. He never did listen to me when he was a kid. If anyone can help Natsu, then it's you."

"Hey Diesel," Siren perked up. The thought of 'helping' Natsu obviously boosted her mood. "Bring Master to the cell room once you're done, because I'm going to pay those fairy brats a visit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsu has a lot to think about right now...


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, another 5000 words! Let me know what you think about where this fanfic is heading.

There were no windows within the basement prison cell, and the constant hours of laughing and chattering that came from the guildhall didn’t help Lucy in figuring out what time it was. It was like the Dark Sparrows' guild was never empty, reminding her of Fairytail back in her time-dimension. All she had was Happy and Wendy to pass her time through socializing and playing games, but, it wasn’t like she was complaining. She’s never been in a dark guild’s prison before, but she and Wendy had definitely opted from taking the short end of the stick by having Natsu and Happy as their guard keepers. 

Within the week they’ve been there, today was probably the only day that Natsu was gone for more than half the day, but she did agree that he needed to go out on a mission with his guildmates before they came down there to get him themselves.

And yet, even though he was gone for only a day, Lucy couldn’t help but miss him...

“So do you think that Natsu’s coming back tonight? He did say that it was only going to be a day’s trip.” Happy asked, all the while poking a Jenga stick from the tower. They played sitting on the floor, with the cell bars in-between them, with Lucy and Wendy having to stretch their hands past the metal bars to play their turn. Happy’s paw was big enough to knock the whole structure down (which he did a couple times), but with enough practice he was finally starting to get the hang of things. 

“He probably did come back,” Wendy mused, her eyes trained on the tower as it trembled, as if her gaze alone could keep it from falling. “But... it is late, right? He could've gone home.” 

Happy successfully nudged the Jenga block out its place, and he activated his wings to gently stack the block on the top of the tower. “Yeah, it’s past midnight, actually! You both should probably go to sleep.” 

Lucy assumed it was nighttime, but she couldn’t bring herself to sleep. She was hoping she could see Natsu again. “Okay, okay… but not until after this game! And besides, Natsu wouldn’t go to his house without coming to get you first, Happy.”

Happy pondered at that for a moment, before nodding his head in agreement. “You’re right... but if he doesn’t come tonight, then I’ll just sleep with you guys!”

Wendy laughed. “You can’t stay overnight with us! What if someone comes looking for you?”

Suddenly, Happy’s smile dropped, and looked desolately to the floor. “I don’t think anyone would come looking for me… Only Natsu would care that much…” 

Lucy didn’t know how to respond to that. It’s expected that Happy doesn’t get much love from a dark guild, but it still hurts to hear that Happy would have to deal with that.

Wendy’s lips were pressed together, and Lucy could tell Wendy didn’t like what she heard either. But whatever she had to say, it went unsaid, as they all heard the door upstairs unlocking. 

Natsu slipped through the door, looking thoroughly drained and tempered. His exhausted frame reminded Lucy of how he first looked back when he first kidnapped them in Fairytail’s infirmary: an ominous mist that escaped him as he held deep hatred and blame towards himself. She later learned that was because he accidentally hurt Happy, but she could only wonder if he was feeling this way now. Lucy and Wendy stood up, the game of Jenga long forgotten. Lucy grabbed onto the metal bars, trying to get a better look at her friend. “Natsu… what’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

When Natsu looked up to Lucy, some of his anger seemed to visibly dissipate. He let out a sigh, slumping onto the wooden chair. “Nothing. Everything went  _ great _ . Besides the fact that I couldn’t have acted more  _ stupid _ today in front of my whole team.” 

Happy looked very concerned for his comrade. He flew on the table in front of the dragon slayer, and sat there, close enough to be an arm stretch away from a comforting shoulder touch. “What happened, Natsu? You can tell us.”

“Diesel killed a man today. But… there was no need for that. We were done with the mission, and… he was retreating!” Natsu stopped himself before he could get too heated up. His nostrils flared as he exhaled, as a failing attempt to calm himself. “I found that very disturbing… but that’s not the point. I shouldn’t have acted up from that. We are  _ dark mages _ after all… that’s the sort of stuff we would do. So… I don’t know why I got so mad at Diesel.” 

Wendy looked… guilty? She wrung her wrists nervously, and it seemed there was something she wanted to say. Finally, with enough courage built within her, she managed to peep it out. “Sorry, Natsu… This is all my fault.” 

Natsu looked at her, confused. “How is this your fault, Wendy?”

“A few days ago… I told you things that don’t line up with your guild’s way of thinking. And that’s… that’s what made you angry with yourself, right? I’m not saying that I regret what I said, because it's true --you shouldn't kill people because everyone deserves to live-- but… this all contradicts with your guildmates’ thinking… and I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Natsu's eyes softened. He got up from his seat and made his way to Wendy. He crouched a little, so he could be at her eye level, and patted her head. Wendy's eyes widened as she looked at Natsu in confusion. “You’re… not mad at me?”

“How could I be? All you did was open my eyes to the goodness in this world. It’s my fault for losing my composure in front of my guildmates, because I should’ve known they wouldn't express the same feelings as me. But you and Lucy… people like you are what reminds me that there’s hope for this world after all. So… never apologize for telling the truth to others… okay?”

Wendy scrubbed a tear off her face with the back of her hand. “Geez, Natsu… To think we were trying to cheer you up, not the other way around…”

Lucy could only watch this scene play before her, too afraid that her budding in could break the moment. She was sure she saw the old Natsu do something like that to Wendy in her time dimension. And their interaction... it was like only something you would find with an older brother showing love to his younger sister. He was telling her not to be afraid, when it was he who was afraid himself.

Natsu stood up, accidentally knocking down the Jenga tower beneath him. His face deadpanned, as he looked at Happy with an unamusing arched eyebrow. “You brought Jenga?”

Happy jumped in front of the blocks in defense. “You left us for the whole day, Natsu! We got bored!” 

Natsu rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help his smile from showing on his face. “Don’t tell me you got this game from the guildhall. And you’re lucky it’s not Jenga night, or else those people would go  _ crazy _ looking for this game.” 

Lucy stifled a laugh. “Sorry… but Jenga night in a Dark Guild? I have trouble imagining that.”

“Oh yeah? Well, then you’ll have trouble imagining  _ a lot _ of other things we do.”

Natsu bent down and started picking up the pieces. “Let’s go and put these back, Happy, before one of the guildmates comes down here looking for it.” 

Happy slumped at the sight of Natsu cleaning up the game, like a child seeing his mother picking up his toys. “Finnnnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” He dragged on, before contributing himself to scooping the wooden blocks off the floor. 

Once the pieces were all reassembled, Natsu looked over his shoulder to Lucy and Wendy as he headed to the door with the Jenga box in his hands. “Well, it’s gotten pretty late, so Happy and I will head out now.” 

“Get some sleep, you two!” Happy exclaimed, and after exchanging goodbyes, the boys were out of the room.

Lucy sat on her metal bed, noticing how Wendy hadn’t moved from her spot. Instead, she continued to look at the door they just left from. “So you think… that Natsu isn’t actually mad at us?  For what we said?”

Ah. She was still worried about Natsu. He was the top mage of Dark Sparrows, but it’s obvious to everyone that his mind was somewhere else. And right now, he has to choose between his guild’s ideals and what’s truly right in this world. As far as they could tell, this was definitely taking a toll on him.

This made Lucy think back to her present dimension. She rarely saw the old Natsu deal with so much pain. He was always the care-free spirit with his big smile and overflowing energy. It was impossible to tell that this tall, black-outfitted, pierced-up young man in this time dimension was Natsu. Instead, every time she saw him, it was like he was carrying a large baggage of pain and suffering. 

And yet, this Natsu could be so gentle at times, and he always put others in front of himself. _ He not only risked everything to save Happy’s life, but he did it again for me and Wendy. _ Lucy had gotten to know him the past few days, and she concluded that he had never let go of his morals of life and family. 

Lucy shook her head. She was focusing on the wrong things. How were they going to get the old Natsu back with all of this going on? She needed to get back to Gray and Erza, before this war got out of hand. If this Natsu was suffering, then the only way to fix things was to bring the old one back.

Right?

Wendy was looking at Lucy, patiently waiting for an answer. “Lucy? You spaced out for a minute.”

Lucy blinked at Wendy, who had pulled her out of her thoughts. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Are you worried about him too?”

The Celestial mage shook her head. Natsu may be going through a lot, but he would get through it. “You don’t have to worry about him. He’s strong.”

Wendy could only sigh in response. “He’s strong, but what he’s doing is risky. What do you think his dark guild would do if he betrays them? What if they hurt him?”

Lucy knew that Wendy was right. Natsu wasn’t going to please his crew if he didn't want to kill anymore. “Don't worry, Wendy. Natsu knows what he’s doing. And once he finds a plan for us to  get out of here, we’re going to make sure he is safe too.” 

That earned a smile from the younger girl. She nodded, wiping her cheeks dry before more tears could fall.

“Oh come here,” Lucy said, before pulling Wendy into a gentle embrace. “Everything’s going to turn out okay. I promise.”

Wendy stifled her tears, her smiling growing bigger. “You’re right, Lucy.”

Lucy was going to say more when the door upstairs unlocked. She nudged Wendy with a smirk on her face and whispered. “Well. Speak of the devil. I bet Natsu came back to take our _U_ _ no cards _ next.”

Wendy covered her mouth and giggled, as the footsteps made its way down the stairs. Lucy looked up to ask Natsu what he needed, and froze.

It  _ wasn’t _ Natsu.

It was Siren. She stopped at the last steps of the stairway, looking straight at Lucy. Her hand was curled into a fist, and a scowl was fixated on her face. “I know he took Fairy tail’s healing mage, but  _ you’re _ the other chick he kidnapped?” 

Lucy’s heart stopped. A flood of fears came crashing into her mind before she had time to process any of it.  _ Why is Siren here? How did she get the keys to get in? What’s going on?  _ She averted her eyes to Wendy in a panic.

The dark mage slowly approached them. The only sound hanging in the air was her boots scuffing the concrete floor, and her hand brushing against the blood-stained table.

Lucy bit her bottom lip, at a complete loss on what to do.  _ This is Natsu’s girlfriend. How should I act?  _ “Y-you’re Siren, right? We don’t want any trouble--”

Siren  _ grabbed _ the metal bars like a viper striking to attack. The bar rattled, causing Lucy and Wendy to jump. “ _ Shut up. _ ” She said, her voice dripping with poison. Siren’s eyes swiped from Lucy and Wendy, her scowl deepening at the oversized shirts and joggers they were wearing. 

And that’s when Lucy  _ deeply _ regretted asking for a change of clothes that night they were at Natsu’s house.

“Those are  _ Natsu’s _ clothes, you got on?” The dark mage  _ seethed _ , her eyes mainly trained on Lucy. 

_ Yikes… _ Lucy shivered. How worse could this get? But Lucy gritted her teeth. She would not be intimidated by the likes of her. She stood up from the bed, with one hand resting on her key pouch, just in case if Siren was going to do anything to hurt them. “Yeah, they are. Happy gave them to us after Wendy healed him.”

Siren, with her milky brown eyes glinting with rage, pressed against the metal bars to get as close as she can to her captives. “Give them back.” 

Wendy blinked twice. “… What?”

Siren thrusted forward, banging her fist against the metal bars. “Give them back! Is he your boyfriend? I don’t think so. You two are prisoners of war _._ Fairytail scums who are _nothing_ to us Dark Sparrows. I don’t know what type of mess you’ve been feeding into _my_ boyfriend, but I’ll have you know that you're screwing up his head. He’s confused enough as it when it comes to dealing with the enemy, and I do not need you two adding onto his problems!” 

The anger radiating off of Siren was dangerous, and for the first time, Lucy was thankful for the metal bars separating them from her. “Siren, I’m not taking off these clothes, they’re all I have—“

“And  _ you— _ “ Siren reached for a bloody sledgehammer from the table and threatened it towards Lucy. “I remember you from Solona village. Don’t think I didn't see that connection you had with Natsu when you two first met.”

Lucy quieted immediately, her eyes trained at the weapon directed at her. Lucy had noticed the sledgehammer the moment they arrived at the cell, along with small tweezers, knives, and pliers that littered the table. And now… she regretted not asking Natsu before to move them out of her sight.

Siren continued to wave the weapon in Lucy’s direction, her jaw clenched and lips drew back in a snarl. “The last time Natsu had that look was when he first met  _ me _ . If you even have the slightest idea of touching him, then I will rip your fingers apart one by—“

“Ren, what are you doing in here?”

Lucy looked behind Siren. It was Natsu, his grip knuckle-white on the doorknob as he slowly closed the door. Happy was by his side, his eyes wide in fear.  _ They’re here. _ Lucy breathed, and she could hear Wendy sigh in relief.

“Hey Rennie, is everything all right?” Happy asked, a wavering smile on his face.

Siren whipped around to face Natsu. She swung the sledgehammer back, gesturing to the girls in the cell. “Everything is NOT all right, Happy, ever since Natsu brought these  _ brats _ into his life.” Her voice was scratchy, as if she was on the verge of tears.

Natsu took slow steps down the stairs, his voice taking on a well-practiced calmness. “Siren… What are you talking about? I literally only used them to heal Happy. Besides that, you know they mean nothing to me.” He spoke the words smoothly, as if the lines were all rehearsed.

But Siren wasn’t buying it. She cocked an eyebrow, seeing through his lie. “Oh yeah? If you only used the little one to heal Happy, then why did you take  _ this other girl _ here?” 

Natsu gritted his teeth, angered by her persistence. “Ren, I told you already that I held her as a hostage so Wendy wouldn’t try to escape. What is up with these questions?”

“ _ Wendy? _ Huh.” Siren’s eyes bore at Natsu, and Natsu held his gaze. For a good moment, no one attempted to break the tension that wrung within the air. 

And finally, Siren broke her gaze. Her eyes fell on the bloody sledgehammer resting in her hands, before her eyes swept to Lucy and Wendy in the cell. Her gaze made its way back to Natsu,  and she began making her way to him. “Oh, it’s nothing, really. I was just  _ dying _ to torment these girls, but since you’re here, why won’t you do it, Natsu?” She held out the weapon, waiting for Natsu to accept it.

Lucy almost puked. Right there. The color was draining from the two girl’s faces, until they were as white as sheets of paper. Siren was asking Natsu to  _ torture _ them. Lucy launched forward to the metal door, her knuckles turning white from her grip on the bars.  _ This is so wrong. How could she-- _

* * *

Natsu was completely thrown off guard. He looked at the sledgehammer dumbfounded, as if he’s never seen it before in his life. “...Me?”

Siren shoved the weapon closer to him. “ _ Yeah _ , didn’t you say before that you tortured these girls into healing Happy? Why won’t you give it another go?”

Natsu didn’t say anything. He  _ couldn’t _ say anything. He just couldn’t bring himself to hurting those girls. He looked down, his hair shadowing his eyes. “Siren… I—”

Siren slammed the butt of the sledgehammer down on the table, shutting Natsu from speaking. Happy flinched from the resonating sound of the weapon. “Come on, Natsu! You’ve become too soft! What happened to that fearless guy I knew and loved? I know why you bandaged their guildmarks! It’s because you're afraid of hurting them!”

Siren stormed back to the cell bars, closing in her distance with the Fairy Tail mages. Natsu could see Lucy tremble as Siren got only a few inches away from her, and he scowled at the sight, taking a step forward. But Happy’s paw went on his shoulder, shooting him a glare.

Siren reached into the cell and grabbed Lucy’s arm, earning a surprised yelp from the blonde mage.

Lucy gritted her teeth as she tried to wriggle free from her restraint. “Would you let me go!--” 

“Shut up! This isn’t about you.” Siren  _ seethed _ , before turning back to Natsu. She lifted Lucy’s arm, showing the white bandage wrapped around her hand. “You’ve been resisting the power Master gave you. But I’m not letting you fall into weakness. So, let me help you.” 

She ripped off Lucy’s bandage, exposing her pink insignia. 

Siren walked back to Natsu, and shoved the sledgehammer into his hands. “Go on, hurt these **_Fairy Tail_** brats.”

Natsu clenched the weapon in his hand, his hand trembling with struggled control. Not only did Siren say their guild’s name, but she showed him their guildmarks too. He felt that sickening sensation erupt within him. That burning desire to attack and kill. **Fairy tail.** ** _Fairy tail._** **_F a i r y t a i l_**. Her voice repeated in his head, growing louder and louder until he lost all sense of his surroundings. During that war, he used to lose all sense of direction, running rogue like a chained beast. And now, he felt lightheaded. His head was spinning, and all that surfaced was a growing desire to shed blood. He **_needed_** to shed blood. It had to be done. The powerful urge inside of him was not going to let him do otherwise. And soon enough, his vision was clouding red to only his targets with the guildmark. **_And he suddenly realized that he was beginning to forget the sound of suffering from his victims_** **…**

“Natsu!”

Happy slapped him hard in the face, snapping him back to the presence. Clarity returned to his eyes, and his face slowly fell from the ruthless smile he wore moments ago. His fingers held a white-knuckled grip onto the sledgehammer. 

What was he just doing? He wasn’t really going to hurt Lucy and Wendy, was he? But Natsu caught a look of untold fear in their eyes, and Siren held the greatest smile. Natsu looked at Happy, his hands trembling. “Crap... I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”

Happy sighed in relief, and he shook his head. “No… but it looked like you were going to…”

Siren’s smile dropped, and her eyebrows snapped together in rage. “No! Stop holding back Natsu! You almost had it!”

Natsu looked back at Siren, with his jaw clenched. He placed the weapon back onto the table. “No Ren! That’s not happening! You wanna hear the truth? These girls aren’t prisoners or hostages to me. They are my friends! I would never intend on hurting them, not when I have a say in the matter!” 

“Fine.” Siren grabbed the sledgehammer and turned to the girls, her hard eyes still trained on Natsu. “If you’re not doing it, then I will.” 

“Enough. Both of you.” 

A deep voice rang from behind. Natsu looked behind him, searching for who spoke.

Siren looked his way too, and soon everyone was staring at the wall behind them.

“Did someone…?” Wendy whispered, but she quickly fell silent when a green magic circle formed, and a group of people was revealed. Master, Seph, Ruby, and Diesel were all standing there, with one of Master’s servants turning off his invisibility spell. 

And suddenly, it was as if the place felt a look smaller. The oxygen in the air thinned, and Natsu could feel his breaths quickening.

_Oh_ _no…_ Natsu gawked at the sight. How long have they been standing there? Just how much _worse_ could things get?

Lucy protectively pushed Wendy behind her, as they slowly backed up into the darkness of the cell. Happy cowered behind Natsu’s frozen stature, and Siren sighed in relief. 

Natsu swept his eyes over his family, fearful of their powerful aurora. Diesel held a furious scowl, and Seph stood there with wide eyes, holding a look of disbelief. And  _ Master _ ... Natsu averted his eyes to the ground.

Siren waltzed over to the new guests. “I was beginning to think you guys weren’t going to make it. Do you see how much of a defiance he’s become? He doesn’t want to admit how—“ 

“I said that’s  **_enough_ ** , Siren.” Master demanded, and immediately Siren’s mouth fell shut.

The guildmaster made his way towards Natsu. The dragon slayer held a defensive composure, never breaking his contact with the Master. “Master, about what I said, I—“ 

“No, Natsu.” Master shook his head. His eyebrows were knitted together as he looked at Natsu with distrust. “You’ve disappointed me. You told me that you’ve enjoyed inflicting pain on others, and I thought I fixed that fear you had of killing. But from what I’ve heard, what I’ve  _ seen _ , that obviously proves otherwise. I can see you are back to that fearful, timid boy you were two years  ago, prior to the war. And I can see that much from your failed attempt with Laxus.” 

Natsu threw his hand down. “I wasn’t timid, I was  _ bold _ enough to put my foot down against your reckless orders! You know I’ve always  _ hated _ killing! It wasn’t until you messed up my head, as if I was one of your brainless freaks!”

And at that, Master pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ah, now I see how vulnerable you are. Obviously, you are confused. Do you need me to renew your interest as a dark mage? I simply can not lose my most important pawn, especially since we are once again at war.”

Before Lucy could think, she ran up to the cell door and grabbed the bars with vexation. “No! Natsu is  _ not _ your pawn! I will not let you play with his mind again, like he is some doll! Let him be his own person, without you controlling him!”

Natsu whipped her head to her, his eyes wide in fear. “ _ Lucy _ .” Natsu muttered. She’s going to get herself  _ killed _ . 

Diesel shoved past everyone and stormed towards Lucy. “You’re the cause of this problem. You keep on running your mouth and filling our kid’s head with all this crap.”

He lifted up his hand towards her and squeezed his fist.  **“Metal manipulation: twisting iron.”** He spoke. The iron bars Lucy held onto released its shape, twisting itself around Lucy’s wrists. Her eyes widened in fear, and she bit her lip in pain. 

_ “You deserve to die. _ ”

“Hey, quit that out! Get this off me!” Lucy shouted, but the iron continued to harden and tighten itself around her, making its way up her arms. 

Seph stepped forward, his arms crossed as he watched this unfold. “This is the girl who was messing with Natsu? What a pain.”

Natsu reached forward and grabbed Diesel’s outstretched arm, pushing it down. “Diesel, _enough_.” He spat, his eyes scouring through him. He turned around to the rest of the Dark Sparrows. “Enough all of you.” Natsu looked from Master to Siren, and then back at Diesel. “I’ve made my decision, and it’s final. I _refuse_ to kill. And even though I caused it, I will not be partaking in this war. And I’ll do what it takes to get it that way.” 

Diesel shook his head, disappointment written on his face. “So you choose your reckless dreams over your own family. Bad choice.” At that moment, he shrugged Natsu’s grip off of him, and redirected to Lucy. He twisted his hand, and an audible crack was heard as the iron wrapped around Lucy’s elbow tightened enough to break her bone. 

She screamed, and Wendy ran to her side, tears brimming her eyes. 

“Lucy!” Natsu shouted, rushing to the cell. He grabbed the bars, unable to remove his eyes from the mangled mess of her arm.

Lucy gritted her teeth, but she held her gaze with Natsu. “Don’t… worry about me, Natsu. You... n-need to get out of here.”

Master tilted his head, a smile rested on his face. “So Natsu, is this the fate you’ve decided?”

And suddenly, his smile dropped; revealing the true, wicked face of a Dark Guild Master. “You should know very well by now that no one under me has the luxury to live off of their own fantasies. Siren.”

“Yessir.” Siren came behind Natsu, casting a sleeping spell in one hand.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, and Natsu looked back at her, with wide eyes.

“Wait, Siren! What are you…” Natsu’s voice trailed off, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. He went slack, and slumped back into her arms.

“NATSU!” Wendy and Lucy screamed. The healing mage reached out through the cell bars, trying to reach for Natsu as Siren dragged him away.

“Let’s go.” Master said, quite satisfied, before turning around to make his way upstairs. “You will be taking him to my office.”

Diesel dropped his hand, stopping the growth of the iron vines wrapped around Lucy. Lucy watched in fear as he and Seph went to Siren, taking Natsu on both sides and rested his arms around their shoulders.

Seph shook his head with a sigh. “I can’t believe this. It’s like we're starting all over with this kid. Why does he have to be so stubborn?” 

Diesel _tsked_. “Just know that we’ll make sure this doesn't happen again.” They followed after the guildmaster, walking up the stairs, and Diesel looked over his shoulder to see Ruby standing there. “Come on, Ruby-dear. Let’s go.”

Ruby was in shock, watching the whole scene that had just played before her with wide eyes. She hadn’t moved from that spot since they arrived. She looked over to Siren, her eyebrows knit together. “Siren, was putting him unconscious necessary?”

The sleeping mage sighed. “Come on Ruby, you heard the nonsense he was talking. Let’s head back with them to make sure Natsu gets the help he needs.”

Before leaving, Siren turned back at the girls in the cell. Lucy’s arms were still trapped in the warped iron, and Wendy was trying to pry the metal bars open. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” Siren twirled the sledgehammer in her hand, before setting it on the table and leaving with the rest. The door slammed close, leaving a heavy echo in the air.

The only one left in the room was a sobbing, petrified blue cat.

* * *


End file.
